Then come the speeches.
Speeches are to graduation ceremonies what the iron maiden was to the Spanish Inquisition.
And well it should be. After all, it's the culmination of six or seven years of hard work, intense studying, and waking up day after day wondering whose floor it was you passed out on. It's also an event full of pomp, circumstance, and sheepskin diplomas that conveniently come with the messy wool already shorn so you don't have to comb it before you have it framed. Not to mention the stern lecture from Mom about how a cap and gown doesn't mean a backwards baseball cap and a night gown. The benediction is the shortest part.