Hey everybody,

I'm officially a graduate of the RC. Both ceremonies were today, but the LSA ceremony didn't mean anything to me really...I kept thinking, "maybe this just won't hit me until I'm gone. That would be horrible, to not be able to truly say goodbye to my friends because of denial!" Then I went to the RC ceremony...

Each graduate had a minute to say something. There were 120ish graduates, and all of them took at least part of their minute. Honestly, it was amazing. Even though they weren't my year and I wasn't in on any of their jokes, it was so personal. The speeches the staff gave were moving and funny. Everything was such a lovely goodbye. Then it hit me. The most wonderful beginning to my college years I ever could have had, where I made my longlasting friendships of college (even if some weren't RC I still made them at East Quad), everything I had become was so shaped by the RC, and the quirkyness that made me finally feel like I belonged somewhere.

When I got out of the ceremony, I just cried. Usually I'm able to control myself in front of other people, but I couldn't help it. And, in true RC spirit, this girl walking past who I didn't even know came over and gave me a hug, and said, "Congratulations."

I love you all so much. Thank you for the difference you've made to me. I could never express to you what everything has meant.

Update: I wanted to put what I said in my speech here, but I was going to dinner with my grandparents and had to go. It's paraphrased, but not changed too much.

"The RC has a magical power. For the class Moral Choices in Context, we had to do a project that would make a change in the world- or something like that, I'm probably misrepresenting it but that's the gist, anyway (<- that was added by the nervousocity). Another stdent from the class and I decided we wanted to make a play group about raising awareness for religious misuse. This wouldn't be attacking the religious or atheists, it's really just showing people how they view religion, and having them think about it because a lot of times people don't. I was a freshman at the time, and really didn't know anybody. The people I found to work with me were incredible, and became some of my best friends. I know that it isn't just the RC, because they weren't all RC- it was just being around East Quad and asking random people to help and finding the most amazing people who were actually willing to help. They were so enthusiastic and so creative that we actually managed to write and perform a whole play together. It was a wonderful experience.

"I think that East Quad must have some mystical power fueled by the RC. Besides this occasion in which wonderful people just seemed to be drawn to it, I have another example. The first time I explored the basement, I went around in what I swear was a circle three times. The third time, there was a computer lab. Thank you."