The strongly anticipated moment has come. Graduation ceremony and the last school lesson for many. This time a lesson of life.
It is a long road. For most of the people, it takes close to two decades. For me, it is exactly 18 years from my first day of elementary school. I remember that the excitement about school was quickly replaced by endless tedium and neverending struggle. Needless to say, school was never my favorite thing in the world. Nevertheless, reflecting on it, I did not spend more time and effort on anything else in my life. The impact on every single aspect of myself is thus unimaginable. I believe that the majority of people present at Haavelmo auditorium on Friday the 10. of June felt the same way.
With the usually informal Norwegian folk, the presence of bunads and suits on any site marks a very special occasion. And it truly was special. Over 120 people were closing a life chapter at once. The rector of the school Hallgeir Gammelsæter opened the ceremony with a speech emphasizing the importance of a good head and a good heart in our future. The program was underlined by unobtrusive music by Route 33.
Handing out the diplomas, of course, was the pinnacle of the day. Very strangely, when the time came for me to step on the stage, I felt a spike of nervousness much larger than the one before my thesis defense. I realized that it is natural. Every small step towards Oskar Solenes, who was handing out the diplomas, marked a giant leap towards a new chapter of life. This transfer from childhood to adulthood was handled in a brilliant speech full of exquisite metaphors and life advice, by a guest speaker Kitty Eide.
For more pictures from the ceremony check the Facebook page of Panorama.
The star of the day was Luiza Oancea being the most successful student of the masters of logistics class she managed to finish her degree only with only one B among otherwise spotless A average. Besides outstanding transcript of records, this accomplishment brought her a prize of 10 000 NOK given by a logistics company NIMA.
Panorama conducted a short interview with Luiza:
What does winning this price mean for you ?
Winning the prize is a great recognition of the efforts from the last 2 years, and it is, of course, a great honor to carry, in the years to come! Since in Norway most companies ask about your grades at the interview, such a prize will definitely answer their question in the best way!
What would be your suggestion to current and future students who would like to follow you in your footsteps ?
My advice for students is to be selective about the courses that they take and to choose the ones they are really interested in – there always is a degree of flexibility. But also, do not focus only on studying, you need to have a healthy balance. So join one of the student organizations at Høgskolen i Molde, be social and be active! You will meet a lot of great people and develop an amazing set of skills that makes you really attractive for future employers!