CIVICUS - Moving on

Every two years a new set of students at the University of Maryland is invited to become a part of the CIVICUS Living and Learning program and an old set of students graduates the program.

For those graduating, it’s a time of celebration and a time that is somber. Two years of their lives were spent taking classes, volunteering and living with the people in the program. But these members also became friends and celebrate what the program has done for them. That’s a lot to reflect on sitting in a lecture hall in Skinner in just a one hour ceremony.

“It was like being in a room full of family,” graduated CIVICUS member Ryan McCullough said.

Members sat alphabetically on one side of the lecture hall and parents filled the rest.

“For most of them, it’s the first time they’re seeing each other in a while,” Director of CIVICUS Dr. Sue Briggs said. “Usually we have to stop them so we can actually get started with the ceremony.”

Just like in past years, the lecture hall filled with noise – the students were busy catching up.

“I hadn’t seen a fair amount of my CIVICUS friends since the spring,” graduated CIVICUS member Sara Baeuchler said. “It was a cool experience to come back together and feel like we had all accomplished something together.”

On October 21, the graduating class got out of their beds on a Sunday afternoon, got dressed in their best and headed to what could be the last time their entire grade was together. Family and friends were invited to join in the moment, and even though many students are from out of state, their families came down to support them.

The graduating class each received a certificate stating they graduated the program and a slinky. Once just an item on Dr. Briggs’ desk, she found that it would go missing occasionally to find out that members from past years were borrowing to play with. She figured she might as well give out a nice little inside joke rather than a notebook or something. From then on, each graduating class receives a slinky with the CIVICUS logo printed on it. With the slinky in hand, these students were finally graduated.

“Graduating CIVICUS was a little taste of what it will feel like when graduating from college: I will still be friends with my close CIVICUS friends and still remember all the lessons learned throughout the two years, but everything will be different,” graduated CIVICUS member Eshe Hill said.

Refreshments were served in Somerset Hall afterwards – a place that none of these graduates will ever be able to forget even if it’s because they know they had air conditioning in their freshman dorms as opposed to most of the freshman that come to the university. Somerset became their home, and CIVICUS became their family.

The CIVICUS Living and Learning program is a two year invitational academic citation program focused on citizenship, community service learning, leadership, community building in a diverse society and scholarship. These five “pillars” are the foundation of the type of people that are members of CIVICUS.

Dr. Briggs devotes all of her energy into her making every class of CIVICUS feel welcome at the university and part of a close-knit community with many opportunities. It’s a program that most of the students feel has benefitted them in some way.

“CIVICUS made me much more excited to get involved not only with my community, but also inspired me to do more with myself,” Baeuchler said.

While Dr. Briggs says she’s sad to see another class graduate she said she “likes to think CIVICUS is for life.”