By Shaughan Sparks
Graduation - the very word evokes a vision of students triumphantly tossing their caps into the air.
Indeed, caps and gowns have long been considered important indicators of achievement.
In the time of Socrates, wearing caps and gowns was a way of dressing for success in order to advance a student''s future career, according to a 1983 commencement address given by Hugh Nibley.
The same can be said of wearing caps and gowns today. Thus, they are considered a necessary part of the graduation ceremony.
Fortunately for BYU students, the cap and gown division of the Alumni House provides for those needs.
Beginning each February, staffers begin mailing information to students eligible for graduation. The information includes a cap and gown order form.
Once students receive their packets, the process becomes very easy, according to Pam Cushing, 21, a graduating finance major from Cheyenne, Wyo.
Cushing said all that remains to be done at that point is measuring your head for the cap, filling out the form and turning it in. Cushing said the entire process only took approximately five minutes.
'It was just a matter of remembering to do it,' said Sara Spirlsbury, 24, a senior from Las, Vegas, Nev., graduating in biology composite teaching.
Although Spilsbury turned in her form the day before the April fourth deadline, she did not have to wait in a line.
Both Cushing and Spilsbury described the process as very easy.
The cap and gown division takes extra care to be ready for the needs of graduating seniors.
The office orders hundreds of caps and gowns in bulk to provide for the approximately 500 students who come in past the time when orders can be filled by the distribution company in Chicago, according to Janet Woodfield, of the caps and gowns division.
The office also provides for the cap and gown needs of faculty members.
'We do take a little bit of satisfaction in knowing that we can put something on everyone,' Woodfield said.
She said that as long as she has worked for the division, no one has ever left without a cap and gown that looked nice on them, even when graduates have come to the office the day of graduation.
'We''ve put things on people''s backs as they run out to their graduations,' Woodfield said.
Buying a cap and gown costs hundreds of dollars, Woodfield said. Thus, the common practice is to rent.
The fee that graduates pay provides for the rental, as well as shipping and handling fees.