The graduation ceremony, commencement, took place today. Like the Baccalaureate, it was so impressive, and lots of people, most of those were the families of the graduates, came to attend. Program was presided by the President of Coe College, James R. Phifer, Ph.D, and the music was performed by the Coe College Concert Band.

One of the main parts of this ceremony is the commencement address. The speaker was invited from Coe alumni who had graduated from Coe in 1968 and now is serving to the United States Navy as a Chaplain. Since he is a Rabbi, much part of his speech was about Hebrew Scripture, Jewish Teachings and other religious stuff. But it was so interesting.

First of all, yesterdayãàÑÔ speaker was also the preacher, Reverend, from the different religion from todayãàÑÔ one; however, although the context or the material that they used were quite different, their idea was based on the multicultural perspective. Jewish traditional looks quite exclusive, I know it is incorrect since I studied it from the readings at the politics class, and many people have such kind of stereotype, but his speaking taught us that the Judaism also recognizes the diversity of the human existence.

He explained it citing the Hebrew Scripture and Jewish teaching. According to him, since we were created in the image of God, and we live in the image of God; therefore, our existence represents the image of God, as it is clear when we see the world today, it is diversified. Although the Scripture doesnãàÑÕ really mention that how the world should be for the people, he reads it that since God trusted us, God left us the world and expects us to build the better world.

I also realized the importance of the religious aspect of our lives and its influence. I know some of the students and faculty members are Jewish, and since the speaker was one of the greatest Rabbis in the United States, his preaching should have a certain kind of special importance to them. And, I assume that it is consistent with the situation of the Middle East conflict which I had been working on through the semester. Religion should be taken into the consideration (and this is the final conclusion of the class).

After the speech, President Phifer conferred the degree of Bachelor and Master to the students. There are over 200 seniors from various majors. Each student called their names and got to the stage. It was surprising to me that the President of the College gave the diploma to the students one by one with shaking hands. A graduate wore the gown and special cap for the ceremony; its dress was so nice different from the Japanese style. Faculties also wore the gown and cap.

After giving some presentation of the gift and award, we sung the song Coe Loyalty which I learned at the Choir class. Most of the people didnãàÑÕ seem to know the song, so it sounded not so great, I like the song though. (And it reminds me of a bunch of WasedaãàÑÔ nationalistic songs.)

Then, the ceremony was over. Graduates and faculties recessed and scattered on the quad to see the parents, professors and other students. I also went to see some graduates to take pictures including my tutor for the politics class and an international student from Syria. We talked a little, took pictures and promised to keep in touch. My tutor is going to Japan this summer to teach English, and Syrian student is going back to his country after May term.

I was kind of being empathetic to the seniors today as well. Since I wasnãàÑÕ able to attend my fellow classmatesãà™ commencement in Japan because of this studying abroad, by attending the ceremony here today, I got to know the atmosphere of the graduation. During the ceremony, sometimes I imagined that how my graduation would be, which is supposed to be in 2 years. Then, I realized that I havenãàÑÕ really had personalized education like here in Japan. Seniors today seemed to be happy to see the professors who have taken care of them, and it is not the only one professor that the seniors were looked after. Some are double major, and most have major and minor; they have several professors to greet. In addition, the scale of class is much smaller than in Japan, so the relationships have become so close and friendly, and which is just hard to imagine at my home college. It is just so envious for me. I have got to know several professors just in this one year, and of course, I need to greet them when I leave here. I believe it is the fruit of the personalized liberal arts education, and I think it is the ideal college education. I prefer this college especially in this respect. I wonder if I could have the same impression as here I have got when I leave Waseda. I am not going to judge the superiority of the college. Rather, I am so glad to be given an opportunity to experience the two different, completely different, college lives.

The life here is left just one month. I will enjoy it, and what is more, I want to study hard more.