Feelings of excitement coarse throughout your body as you look up into the crowd to see about 20 members of your family prepared to scream their heads off as your name is called: Katelyn Marie Thibodeaux. There is nothing like the feeling you get when your name is announced on the microphone. Then you walk across the stage, receive your diploma and turn your tassel.

While the 2010 Spring Commencement will come with those feelings, students are not guaranteed that a diploma will be mailed to their house.

With grades now due after graduation, students will walk across the stage, shake hands with various administrators and wave to their family members who are crying and clapping. However, some of these students may not receive diplomas because of a poor grade in one of their last courses.

I remember my high school graduation as a time of feeling accomplished and proud of myself; however, I cannot imagine walking across the stage and later finding out I would be repeating a class.

In my opinion, having grades due after graduation makes the ceremony meaningless because, either you or the person sitting next to you may not be graduating.

What is the point of a graduation ceremony if you do not even know if you are graduating? Nicholls could certainly save money during the budget cuts and just mail the diplomas to the houses of those who met the academic requirements.

Another option is to wait until grades are turned in to have a ceremony. Why does it have to be that weekend? After all, graduation is just in Stopher Gym, so it is not like the University has to reserve the space.

What about the students honored for certain GPA’s and other accomplishments? In my opinion, it is not fair for someone that is right below the line to receive a cord for graduation, allowing him or her to stand out as a student of excellence or for a student after graduating to find out that he or she surpassed the mark and should have received a cord but missed the chance.

Even though this is from a student perspective and not a faculty perspective, I can almost guarantee that it irks many faculty members’ nerves watching students being honored for their accomplishments when they failed and will have to repeat the class in order to get a real diploma.

The University cannot expect faculty to turn in grades before graduation for those students who are on the line to graduate and receive awards. The faculty may as well turn in all of their grades while they are at it and only allot one day for grading when the usual is about four days to a week.

This could also be an aggravation for advisers, who have worked with students throughout their college careers to accomplish certain honors, but due to the poor planning and consideration, will not see their students get recognized for their achievements.

In my opinion, the University should reconsider the decision to make grades due after graduation and make it, once again a special occasion for students to be rightfully honored and rightfully graduate.