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. This is when a priest, rabbi, or Tai Chi instructor blesses the graduating class, preferably after a group sneeze. Then come the speeches.
Speeches are to graduation ceremonies what the iron maiden was to the Spanish Inquisition.
While the speeches are intended to educate, inform, and inspire, their true function is to see who can sleep the longest with their eyes open without snoring, drooling, or letting their chin touch their chest. First the president of the university speaks. Then the deans of each school take a turn. The valedictorian is the student in the graduating class with the highest grade point average, which is defined as the highest amount of money donated by parents during the school year. The valedictorian usually graduates summa cum laude, sometimes magna cum laude, and occasionally pretends to know what all this means.