The 24th class of the American University in Bulgaria (AUBG) graduated on May 20. The families and friends of the 204 graduating seniors were invited to attend a commencement ceremony, where graduates received their bachelor’s degree diplomas.
But wait, to commence is to begin, so why is it called a commencement ceremony when it comes at the end of one’s studies? Many people think the term is a metaphor: the end of the academic journey marks the beginning of the rest of one’s life. We all know that education opens up new horizons and gives us the means to pursue them. In this sense, a graduation ceremony marks the beginning of the journey that will take us to new opportunities.
There are other, more historical explanations of the origin of “commencement.” One of the most popular ones is that, during the Middle Ages, students and their teachers ate in large halls, the students sitting together at long tables (much like they do in the Harry Potter movies) and the teachers at a separate table on a raised podium at one end of the hall. After they completed their studies, graduates could sit with their teachers as equals at a common table (from Latin com—”common” and mensa—”table”). This was a way to celebrate the great occasion, which became known as “commencement.”
Another explanation is that, in medieval times, one went to university specifically to learn the teaching craft. Students were apprentices who became teachers in their own right as soon as they finished their studies. According to a post on Harvard University’s website, the commencement ceremony marked students’ transition from apprentices to full-fledged members of the teaching staff.
University graduates today have a wider variety of career options to choose from than their medieval counterparts. Graduates of the American University in Bulgaria, for example, start work at prestigious companies at home or abroad or launch their own businesses. Some continue their studies at the world’s top universities such as Harvard, Oxford, Cambridge, and MIT.
Every fourth graduate of the class of 2018 received a scholarship from the America for Bulgaria Foundation, with twenty graduates having received full funding. ABF has offered scholarships to AUBG students since 2010 and generously supported the construction of the university’s campus. The America for Bulgaria Student Center bears the Foundation’s name in recognition of that support.
