You will be given a definition of a task first, then some input of the task.
In this task, you're given an article and an answer. Your task is to generate the fill-in-the-blank question for this answer based on the given article. The blanks are always at the end of the question, and can be filled with more than one word or phrase.

Article: For most people, graduation is an exciting day - the culmination of years of hard work. My graduation day... was not. I remember that weekend two years ago, Family and friends had traveled far to watch our class walk across the stage. But like everyone else in my graduating class, I had watched the economy go from bad to worse during my senior year. We graduates had degrees, but very limited prospects . I hadn't secured a job, and I knew that the next day, when my lease ended, I would no longer have a place to call home. The weeks ahead weren't easy. I gathered up everything I couldn't carry and put it into storage. Then, because I had no opportunities in my small university town, I packed up my car and drove to California to find work. But what I thought would take a week dragged into two, then four, and 100 job applications later, I found myself still jobless. The due date to begin paying back my student loans was creeping even closer. Have you ever felt utter dread? That feeling became a constant in my life. The most frustrating part was no matter how much I tried, I just couldn't seem to make any progress. So what did I do to maintain my sanity? I wrote. Something about putting my words on a page made everything clearer. Something about writing gave me hope. I channeled my frustration into a children's book. Beyond the river was the story of an unlikely hero, a little fish who refused to give up. And then one day, with no writing degree or contacts in the writing world - just hard work and perseverance - I was offered a publishing contract for my first book. After that, things were in place, I was offered a second book deal. Then, a few months later, I got an interview with the Walt Disney Company and was hired shortly after. The moral of this story is... don't give up, even if things look bleak now. Two years ago I was drinking cold soup right out the can. Things change. All we need is the courage to push beyond the river.
Answer: hopeful
Output:
When it was time to graduate, the author felt _ .