2 Different Graduation experiences

Two weeks ago, I attended two graduations.  One for the ESL leaners at the non-profit in Waltham, WATCH, where I mentor a woman from Guatemala in English, and another at Mary Baldwin in Staunton Virginia.  PEG is the acronym for the Mary Baldwin program, Program for the Exceptionally Gifted.  My friend's daughter just graduated from there.

I was struck by the wide differences these two programs support.  WATCH is for immigrants in the Waltham area, to learn to speak English, to find housing and jobs and to be supported as they arrive from other countries.  The celebration was a potluck and the variety of ethnic dishes was incredible.  We ate first, then had the ceremonies where graduates spoke about what the programs meant to them.  Many of them came from a second job, or came in between jobs to attend the ceremony in the basement of a church.  They brought their relatives, and were so proud.  After that, they put on some music and danced.

The PEG ceremony consisted of 17 graduates.  Each graduate, and the professor of their choice, stood up in the front of the room and the professor spoke about the student.  Most of these young women were barely 18, and were graduating from college already having achieved much in their short college years and were on their way to keep achieving in graduate school and beyond into work.

I cannot say which group of graduates were prouder.  Neither graduation was better than the other.  They were just very different experiences. 

I wonder though if some of those immigrants in their native program would be qualified to go to a PEG like program in their native country?  They come to the US with hopes for a better life, and often their life is better here.  They really work hard to learn English, and get jobs to support their extended families.  They mow our lawns, clean our houses and take care of our elderly in nursing homes. 

A simple graduation in a church basement in Waltham, or one on a hill of a beautiful campus in rural Virginia are both important to mark and celebrate achievements.  This is the time of year that we recognize those events and celebrate, no matter what you have just completed.