Well, we’ve made it to the end of the year. Another memorable semester in the books.
We were blessed this year with our new collective pet Pebbles, President Jonathan Koppell’s selfies called Kopellfies and finally, new dining services which include a pub. All of these have certainly taken the edge off the stress of being in college.
But sadly, it’s time for the seniors to get ready to leave Montclair State University and venture off into the real world. Whether that be graduate school, a career or a job to help them move out.
While the event of graduating is important to students, some students rarely care about the ceremony itself. Why? Because ours just doesn’t feel as special.
A lot of universities get celebrities to speak at their commencement ceremonies.
New York University got the legendary pop-country-indie singer songwriter Taylor Swift to speak at their graduation.
Harvard got “Saturday Night Live” and “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” star Andy Samberg.
It’s not just the Ivy leagues.
Even Falls Church High School in Fairfax, Virginia got Oscar winning actor, writer, and director Ben Affleck to give a speech at their graduation ceremony.
We’re not even having a speaker this year. We didn’t even get a speaker last year.
What’s it going to take to get a celebrity speaker at commencement? If we have to give Taylor Swift another honorary degree then that’s what we have to do. We have plenty of those.
Students work so hard for four or more years, and they don’t get the same treatment as other schools. Graduates deserve a special treat for getting through some of the toughest years in their entire education.
Not to mention, college is the last chance for something like this to happen.
Other students are gifted with a celebrity presence even when it’s not their graduation. Like Arizona State University who gave their student body a free Jack Harlow concert in 2021.
We’re not asking for any free concerts, but a special treat for our graduates would be nice.
We can only hold on to the fact that Florence Pugh swam in our Student Recreation Center’s pool for so long.
Thank you Zack Braff for blessing us with Miss Flo’s beauty and grace even though only a few students actually saw her in person. You have done more than our entire administration has in several years.
If it’s a money issue that prevents us from getting a celebrity speaker, might we suggest not spending millions of dollars on an app? We can’t speak for every student on campus but we’re pretty sure students would rather have a speech from T-Pain than the Workday app.
With that being said, Montclair State, please give your students what they want. Students work hard all year, and they deserve more than a brief walk across the stage at a really inconvenient time like eight in the morning.
In the wise words of Kris Jenner, “just call Taylor up?”
