Graduation Then And Now (Group 5)

The 14th Annual Commencement Pamphlet

The 14th Annual Commencement Pamphlet 

          While graduation is an exciting time for all students, there was even more emphasis on graduating during the early-twentieth-century. It seems as if the entire school got involved and there were more planned activities and excitement for the graduating students to participate in throughout the week of graduation. As you can see in the pictures to the left, the pamphlet shows a list of things students could do such as class day exercises, annual concerts, contests, and sermons. On graduation day they prioritized education and academics more than just the accomplishment of graduating. Students were a part of group events which gave them time to bond and say their last goodbyes. Unlike laura Quayle Benson’s graduation, students today are not involved in a graduation week full of fun events. Students spend the week before graduation taking exams and finishing final assignments then finish off the end with parties with loved ones. Today most graduation ceremonies are held in stadiums and arenas to accommodate larger crowds when back in the “1930s they were a bit more subdued focusing on the invocation and benediction” (Taylor, 2015). I would also like to note that pamphlets used during graduation are much larger today and full of color and made up of different materials. 

We now have digitized almost everything including graduation ceremonies. There are many new ways to record things so that we can enjoy them later and we most definitely do this now when it comes to recording graduations. In 1919 when Laura Quayle Benson graduated, live images could not be recorded for later use. The ability to record is something we do take for granted nowadays but it comes in handy and can be very useful for graduation. Being that it is televised live, more loved ones can join in on the celebration and not have to attend the actual ceremony. For FSU specifically, we can see in the digital recordings that as people are entering the building the school displays videos of the campus and events like sports games and shows for everyone to see. Another huge difference between graduation now and then is that we now have a lot more people being born and attending college. This is why we have now begun to hold graduation ceremonies in stadiums and arenas to make room for more people and bigger families to attend the ceremonies. The use of recording also shows that more people can attend by simply sitting in their living room. 

          Two of the biggest similarities we have in today’s graduation ceremonies versus early twentieth-century graduation ceremonies is the fact that we have people specifically chosen to give a speech during the ceremony and students’ names are still called as we walk across the stage. We are recognized for our accomplishments and as graduates by being singlehandedly called out. Those who have accomplished a higher grade point average are announced separately so that their achievements are recognized. In both current and past graduation ceremonies, they have started with a choir procession and followed by a speech from the president and several faculty members. They still call out each individual graduating student to acknowledge them for what degrees they are receiving and what they have accomplished as a student now graduating from college. Even though class sizes have grown much larger and ceremonies last a lot longer, this still remains to stay an important part of the ceremony that has stayed the same over the years. 

Congratulatory Graduation Card 

     Graduation isn't complete without your traditional, congratulatory card and throughout the years, as our technology and printing has improved, so have congratulatory graduation cards. In the early-twentieth-century they were typically small, handheld, and were relatively moderate in decorations and words and if you wanted to gift one back in the early-twentieth-century, you would have to travel to the store and purchase one. It's a lot more work compared to the congratulatory graduation cards we see today, where, just by the click of a button, the possibilities of card designs can extend as far as your imagination all thanks to the technology we have access to. We have the opportunity to not only customize personal graduation cards, but we can even send a digital congratulatory card, something one could only dream about in the early-twentieth-century.

Class Graduation Picture 

     Graduation photos have also come a long way since the early-twentieth-century. As you can see here, the classes at the university were a lot less congested and a lot more personal compared to the classes held in today's day. As well as the photo quality of the cameras available back then is no comparison to the quality of cameras we have access to today.

     Graduation photos not only provided historical documentation, but also captured a significant moment in the students' lives, something we are able to do at our leisure thanks to advancements in technology and our ability to have cell phones and take pictures in little to no time. In today's day, with classes becoming more full and cameras being more accessible, it made for students more interested in taking graduation photos by themselves, or with their friends, and with the cameras and technology we have today it makes for high definition pictures with accurate colors.