Elizabeth Stewart
Contributing Writer
As all of the stress from finishing assignments and studying for finals comes to a close, seniors can pack away their books and dust off their arts and crafts box. It’s time to decorate graduation caps.
Decorating graduation caps is a great way to acknowledge individual accomplishments and achievements that seniors have made in college.
“I’m an athletic training major and we have an athletic certificate training test that starts your career,” said senior Jamie Legner. “I found out that I passed and I’m going to put ATC which means ‘Certified Athletic Trainer’ on it.”
“I plan on (decorating my cap) with music and possibly a spiritual symbol,” said senior Kimberly Garner. “It would reflect my personality and show what motivated me to accomplish all I have. On a practical level, it’ll be easier for my family and friends to find me in the crowd!”
Some students give a shout out to their parents or teachers who have helped them get through the tough moments throughout college.
“I decided to do ‘Thanks Mom and Dad’ because they not only financially supported me through college, but they supported me in everything I wanted to do and I couldn’t have done it without them,” said senior Gianna Medina.
Other seniors decided to put inspirational quotes that usually sum up their college career, their future career, or just have a good message to put out into the world.
“I’m using a quote from ‘Oh The Places you Go’ by Dr. Seuss,” said senior Haleigh Rajnic, “because I think he has inspirational quotes for all ages.”
Iconic celebrities also have inspiring quotes to use as a cap decoration.
“I’m using a Katharine Hepburn quote (that says) ‘Never lose sight at the fact that just being is fun, because it reminds people that just being alive is a gift and joyous in itself,’” said senior Meredith Lanan. “I’m also decorating it with pearls and rose and pink fabric. Hopefully it will all fit!”
However, some seniors try to decide whether or not decorating their graduation cap is worth their time.
“I’m not sure if I’m going to decorate it or not. I keep going back and forth,” said senior Kirsten Bushman. “On one hand, it would be a cool way to capture my time here, almost like a snapshot of my undergraduate career, and I also like the idea that my family would be able to easily pick me out of the crowd, but on the other hand, it seems time consuming.”
Some seniors skip the debating process and decide not to decorate their cap at all.
“I’m not decorating my cap because it costs too much and I don’t see the point,” said senior Michael Varela.
For seniors who want to decorate their cap, but can’t think of what do to, don’t worry. Sites like Pinterest and Google have pictures to spark ideas.
Some practical tips from wearystorm.com for decorating your cap include: brainstorm, gather materials, choose what tells your story, practice on paper, use glue guns, and wear it proudly.
Another tip is to decorate your cap with friends. It’s a lot more fun and could inspire a lot more ideas.
