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Graduation ceremony #1

This is the graduation ceremony of a university in Canada two years ago (2022)．

＜ Entrance and Graduation Ceremonies - Differences from Japan ＞
In Japan and North America, the concept of graduation ceremony is different. In Japan, most students go through an examination war, so the entrance ceremony is very significant not only for the students themselves, but also for their parents. In North America, the graduation ceremony is celebrated by the family and relatives, as it is a significant event for the student who has studied hard and earned a degree. The way of conducting graduation ceremonies varies from university to university in North America, but here is an introduction of UBC's graduation ceremony.

＜ 28 small venues ＞
At UBC, graduation ceremonies are held in the Chan Center, a concert hall on campus that can seat less than 1,400 people, rather than a large venue. This year's ceremony will be held on the weekend of Wednesday, May 25, and will be held in the Chan Center. This year, there were 28 concerts, four a day for seven days, starting on Wednesday, May 25 and ending on Thursday, June 2, over the weekend. My daughter was the first afternoon of the second day. There is a limit of 2 guests per graduate and you must sign up for tickets in advance. Tickets will be emailed to you.

My daughter, who gave up on returning to Japan due to the high hurdles to enter Japan by Corona, had a graduation ceremony on the first day for a friend of hers who was in the US during Christmas time and had dinner that night with her parents(父親がカナダ人、母親がアメリカ人), so I asked around. Both parents are from American universities, and both said that they had one graduation ceremony at a large venue, and that the size of UBC was more intimate. They also advised me to go early because the information sheet says not to come more than 30 minutes before the commencement ceremony starts, but when they arrived 40 minutes before the ceremony, there was already a line.

＜ Graduation day before the ceremony ＞
On the day of the ceremony, my daughter and I went to the venue early, but there was already a long line in front of the temporary tent to receive the gown and cap (the ones with the square top and ribbon on them that you often see in movies) that we had registered our sizes in advance. There was already a long line of people waiting in front of the temporary tent to pick up their gowns and hats. Both the cap and gown are black, but the gown has a blue border. This color seems to vary depending on the department or faculty.

I had my wife go to the venue first because I had my daughter's luggage with me. When I arrived 30 minutes before the event started, there was already a long queue. There were students from all over the world and some of them were wearing traditional costumes.

Upon entering the Chan Center, I checked my ticket and was given a graduation program. This 122-page program includes a history of previous commencement ceremonies, messages from the president and provost, a list of outstanding graduates, and the names of all graduates for each graduation ceremony along with their departments, majors, and degrees earned.
The UBC brass band was performing in the hall, and the ushers took advantage of their free time to take pictures for the audience.