By CHRISTINE RAPPLEYE
christine@du2.byu.edu
It is the end and a beginning.
'Pomp and Circumstance' plays in the background and graduates line up in their black robes and funny hats waiting for their turn to receive their diploma. One more ceremony and they are done with their univeristy careers.
This scene is replayed every year on campus from the days of the first Brigham Young Academy graduation where five certificates were awarded to the 7,833 graduates of the 1998-99 school year.
Some things never change.
The commencement ceremony consists of the same elements as it did almost forty years ago.
Del Van Orden graduated with a bachelor's degree in journalism in 1960 from Brigham Young University.
He said they sent out annoucements, bought class rings, wore the cap and gown, and the ceremony lasted a long time.
Van Orden was working as a reporter for the Salt Lake Tribune when he graduated.
'I had to cover my own graduation for the Tribune because Carl Sandberg was the speaker,' Van Orden said.
BYU has had a variety of graduation speakers throughout the years and recently have had Margaret Thatcher and President Gordon B. Hinckley.
Van Orden's graduation included everyone in the same commencement excercise and it took a while for each graduate to go up and receive their diploma.
Now, the convocation excercises have split off into individual colleges and some departments have their own due to the number of students in the college.
However, the graduates are recognized at the University Commencement excercises in the Marriott Center. The individual colleges then have their convocation excercises throughout the next day at other buildings on campus.
While the ceremony itself has had few changes, the traditions surrounding commencement have had many.
Up until the mid-1970s, the seniors were treated to a senior breakfast on the morning of graduation, according to Edwin Butterworth's Brigham Young Uiversity: 1000 Views of the Past 100 Years.
In the 1950s and '60s, the graduates would also take one last walk through campus, which would also include a tour of the underground tunnels, on the day before graduation. This was the only time when women were allowed to wear pants on campus.
This last nostalgic tour of campus ended with the soon-to-be graduates ringing the Y Bell, according to Butterworth's book.
The only tradition remeniscent of these days is the Senior Celebration put on the weekend before graduation in April.
Caroline Elliott, 21, a senior from Sour Lake, Texas, majoring in English, said that although the graduation ceremony is not important to some people, it is important to her because of the work she has done.
'I'll be the first kid in my family to graduate from college,' said Caroline, who is planning on graduating in April 2000.
Her husband, Derrick, 26, a senior from Haleyville, Ala., majoring in linguistics, is also planning on graduating in April.
But Derrick says graduation is a 'pointless ritual.'
'The net effect of graduation is zero, unlike the day I got married, which had a great effect on my life,' Derrick said.
Caroline said she didn't know of very many school-wide campus traditions.
'The school population here is so big. You can't exactly have tradtions like in my high school where our senior class was about 130 people,' Caroline said.