"We’ll remember always....Graduation Day!" Such is the line best remembered from a hit 60’s song by The Lettermen (if I remember right?). Most people deem Graduation Day as one unforgettable experience. In fact, I distinctly remember mine. Oh, forget that it was many moons ago, but what comes to mind are the mixed emotions that went with it.

The transition into and out of college can be both exciting and scary. There are new challenges, unwritten rules, and opportunities for advancement – and embarrassment – around every corner. Wouldn’t it be great if somewhere, somehow out there, there were an easy-to-use, reliable resource that offered college students the tools and information they need to achieve success during these transitions? In my time, one was left to wonder and anticipate what was to be in store for a fresh grad but thanks to technology, now there are tools!

In the U.S. there is such a thing as "Life After Graduation" (LLC). They have developed an extensive selection of resources, tools and information students need to achieve academic, financial and career success as they transition into and out of college. This includes a wide variety of publications, presentations and even a free newsletter – all of which can be easily incorporated into the classroom, a seminar, or provided as a value-added gift. Over here schools like STI have SCOPE that aid students in deciding which careers to pursue in the fields of Nursing, IT, Hotel & Restaurant Management, or in Education. Other technical schools too like AMA and I-Academy have Job Referrals as part of their program. At these places, they aid fresh grads by continually outsourcing possible job opportunitites as well as provide them with info, products and serrvices that would help them in their walk towards the employment and career path.

Most fresh grads have that sorta "run-down" feeling and may even take a year’s break or two before they start looking for a job. Imagine 3 years in Pre-school, 6 or 7 years in Elementary, 4 in High school and College, not to mention taking an MBA or Postgrad schooling after? After all that who wouldn’t wanna take a breather? But in retrospect, we all went through not just one but many graduations. And for the newly grads this question comes a-poppin’ : Who am I now and where am I headed? Well, you’ve only graduated from school and now comes the bigger university of learning --- the school of life! There is no such thing as Graduation, only a series of small graduations, continually. Hopefully, there will never be a time when you wake up and say: Now, I’m finished. Now, I’m ME.

We are always graduating from something, and moving on to something else. It’s just that we don’t always celebrate accordingly; we don’t always recognize the magnitude of what has just transpired, of what we’ve finished. Or of what we’re about to start. When I graduated college, there was, of course, a celebration. But when I decided to leave our country to learn how to fend for myself on foreign shores, there was no party. I decided to put graduate school and my career on hold; I wanted to feel my way around first. It was a definite milestone: admitting that I was unsure about something. Admitting that I was, for the first time ever, kind of clueless. Kind of…lost. But not for long. I went ahead and made the plunge. Fourteen years later, I was left with a lifetime of experiences that help me become what I am today. No one should have to graduate from the school of know-it-alls. (For a while there I thought I would’ve been valedictorian there, hehe.).

The list goes on. Life’s biggest lessons - - It isn’t just about you. We can’t control everything; truth is often frustrated by ego; carpe diem…