The Graduate's Walk: A Short Story

She elegantly walked down the staircase and into the lobby of the hotel as she prepared to leave for the stadium. Why did her going to a stadium involve poise, decorum, and care in the way that she moved on her feet? A stadium! Why?

 "You're participating in your commencement ceremony—that's why! You could be participating in your commencement ceremony at the local Walmart® and staying at a half-star motel beforehand; and I'd still expect the same amount of decorum from you"—so her mother admonished her. She grumbled, although she did know that a commencement ceremony was not a casual event and daily motion—her mother, thus, had a point about her carrying herself in a formal manner for a once-in-a-lifetime celebration of academic achievement. 

She walked to the stadium with scholarly class, then —and she even made the Color Guard at the typical Ravens games look as if they were futzing-around schlubs whom were playing "Capture the Flag" or "Flag Football". Then there she stood —at the Ravens Stadium she stood —and she was prepared to walk across the set-up-and-take-down stage platform to receive her Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and Paralegal Certificate....

As she took the documentations of her college completion and certification training in her hand, she walked out of the Ravens Stadium with the formality of a distinguished college graduate and a summa-cum-laude-endowed political scientist and paralegal.

In honor of Michelle Czarnecki (UMBC '15), whom will participate in her commencement ceremony at Royal Farms (formerly First Mariner) Arena. Michelle Czarnecki will graduate with a Bachelor of Arts degree in French.