Excitement, fear and happiness marked this year’s commencement ceremony for the 994 men and women in the 2008 graduating class.
The spring graduation was held on May 10 at the St. Pete Time’s Forum. A total of 799 students received bachelor’s degrees while the other 195 received master’s degrees. The year’s speaker was Rob Blagojevich, a 1977 graduate who is a private investor in his company, Blagojevich Properties.
Student speakers were Josh Murphy and Adam Kemp.
“Graduating was a truly gratifying feeling,” said Murphy, “The ceremony went very well and once it was all over, you sort of take a deep breath and go on to the next adventure in life.”
Many 2008 graduates expressed excitement about graduating and going into the work world.
Murphy plans to become a corps member for the next 10 months with City Year, a branch of AmeriCorps, which works with inner city youth. Murphy says that when he completes his line of service, the company will help pay for graduate school.
“I am really excited about my future,” he said, “and I am looking forward to hopefully making a difference in the lives of young people who really need the help and motivation.”
Other graduates also expressed excitement, but at the same time were fearful of the future.
“I am actually glad school is done because it actually got into the way of work,” said Josh Tahan. “It’s a tough transition… the school pretty much cuts ties with the students and drops them into the real world pretty soon. I am very scared to be on my own, but feel that UT has given me enough tools to survive.”
Tahan added that he was disappointed in the commencement ceremony. “I wish they had set up more speakers facing the students. I heard about one percent of the entire ceremony,” he said. “It’s very disappointing that we didn’t get a chance to hear anything that was going on.”
Another 2008 graduate, David Forry, agreed. “I couldn’t hear a word the speakers were saying. I was told there were some really good speeches but all I heard was mumbling.”
Forry also showed excitement about graduating, though says he is a bit hesitant.
“I always grew up in Tampa and now I am moving away to St. Louis for work,” he said. “I’m going to be working for Ingersoll Rand in an Accelerated Development Program in the Marketing department. It will be a great experience working for such a large company fresh out of college.”
Another grad, Steven Young, said that graduation was an event he will remember for the rest of his life.
“It was great to see all my friends and family at the ceremony,” he said. “I am sad that I will not be able to see my friends as much as I would like, however I’m glad to be done with school for awhile. I plan on working for JPMorgan Chase starting in June and I look forward to entering the workforce.”
The most popular undergraduate majors in the class of 2008 included communication, management, and marketing.
Graduates of 2008 represented 29 countries.
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