Tag: graduation
Ed Column
by Olivia Gleason '26 on April 16, 2026
Editor's Column
I’m finding it very hard to believe that this is the third-to-last issue of The Cowl that I will ever take part in producing. What started as my timid entrance into the office as a freshman copyeditor and is ending in my time as co-editor-in-chief is quickly coming to an end, and this is something that, no matter how hard I try, feels impossible to wrap my head around.
As a spring-semester senior, I’ve found myself experiencing such disbelief in just about every area of my life. It’s hard to believe that these are my last few weeks living in a house full of some of my closest friends. It’s hard to believe that I only have a few weeks left to finish my senior English thesis. It’s hard to believe that this time next year—in fact, this time next month—I will no longer be a college student, and will have to face the reality of the workplace that comes after Providence College. For the past several weeks, I’ve experienced a particular instinct to dwell on what is coming to a close in my life, to try to grapple with my graduation that is so quickly approaching on the horizon.
And yet, I’ve begun to realize that this instinct is largely what makes graduation feel so daunting in the first place. When everything is framed as a loss, it’s easy to feel as though we are leaving something behind without gaining anything in return. But that framing ignores a crucial truth, in my opinion: none of these experiences are actually disappearing. Instead, they are accumulating, compounding on themselves as things we can take with us, and actively shaping how we move through whatever comes next after our time at PC.
I think that focusing primarily on what we are losing as graduation approaches risks reducing our college experience to something temporary, when in reality, its value lies in how enduring it is. The skills we’ve developed, the relationships we’ve built, and the passions we’ve discovered do not stay limited to the confines of campus; they stay with us and can be accessed at any time.
Although focusing on loss in this moment of my life feels like the natural option, I’ve been challenging myself to focus more on what I can take away from each experience that is coming to a close. Since joining the newspaper as a first-semester freshman, for example, I can focus on how my time on The Cowl has been wholly positive. From improving my own editing and proofreading skills, to having the opportunity to design the front page, to being a part of a bustling community of people who share my passion for journalism, the experiences I have been fortunate enough to have while on The Cowl are ones I will carry with me well beyond graduation into whichever career I find myself in.
So while it may be natural to feel unsettled by all of these lasts, in truth, they really only tell half of the story that is our time at PC. What feels like an ending is, in many ways, evidence of just how much there is to carry forward with us into our next chapters.
The Graduation Ticket Shortage of 2026
by Maria Mantini ’26 on April 16, 2026
Opinion - Campus
Graduating from college is a major achievement. An undergraduate degree takes a large investment of time, money, and effort, and not just on the part of the students. Families have helped move students in and out of dorm rooms, worked long hours to help cover expenses, and gave encouraging words to help them feel less homesick or make the final push to get through midterm exams. This effort began long before the student’s attendance at Providence College: walking students to elementary school, coordinating drop offs for after-school activities, and helping with math homework late at night. Some students are the first to graduate in their family, some have been through serious trials to get to graduation day, and some have relatives that have traveled hours to be with them to celebrate this special milestone in their lives. When a student walks across the stage on graduation day, their diploma is not just a representation of their hard work, but also the sacrifices their family made to get them there.
However, many family members are being excluded from the graduation ceremony at PC. Members of the class of 2026 were surprised to learn that this year they would only get five tickets to their graduation ceremony, not six as there have been in previous years. The reasoning for this may be that we were the largest class to enter PC at the start of our freshmen year. I think that it is fair that all available seats are split evenly amongst the graduates; everyone deserves to have people there on their graduation day. With the classes below us being even bigger though, students are left to wonder if the number of tickets will continue to decrease.
The Amica Mutual Pavilion has hosted the PC graduation ceremony for decades, but could the increasing class sizes be outgrowing it? Already, the five tickets given to the 2026 graduates are leaving them with some difficult decisions to make. Typically people come in pairs, and I have heard from many students who are having to choose between grandparents, siblings, or aunts and uncles to attend the ceremony. One of my friends can’t even have all of her immediate family in attendance. The vast majority of students have been left scrambling to see if they can acquire extra tickets from those who are not using all of theirs after already inviting guests back in the fall.
I would like to reiterate that ticket limits for graduation are fair, necessary, and reasonable, but at some point, it becomes unfair to require students to choose so few people to witness this major moment in their lives. Watching on a live stream just isn’t the same. Moving forward, I think it is time for PC to find a new and larger location to host the graduation ceremony, one that can accommodate the ever growing classes of graduates. College graduations are once in a lifetime achievements, and students and their families deserve to be able to celebrate this milestone together, when the culmination of their hard work is recognized.
Fitting in and Finding Yourself
by Sarah McLaughlin '23 on June 11, 2023
Editor-in-Chief
Editor's Column
I’ll Miss (Most of) You, PC
I think Providence College is a difficult place to feel like you fit in.
The first week of freshman year, I felt like I was drowning—not in Honors Civ homework (yet), but in a sea of unknowing. Not knowing any person or place (I asked an orientation leader to help me find all of my classrooms Sunday afternoon, and I spent half an hour trying to find Smith with my new friend Sam—how did we get so lost?), strange new terminology (what in the world was a “darty”), and a major culture shock (I was homeschooled, and it’s not like I had zero socialization before coming to college, but still).
I like to think I’ve changed a lot as a person in my four years here, but not radically so. I still don’t go out past 10 P.M. (with the exception of Thursday night bingo), and I still get way too excited about discussing poetry in my literature classes. I still have an addiction to Dunkin’ donuts. But I’ve changed, too. I don’t wear skinny jeans anymore (thank God they fell out of style), I drink coffee despite my caffeine intolerance, and I voluntarily go to therapy. I make friends (really, really good ones) and I stand up for myself. I learned patience and confidence and vulnerability. There are ways you change in college that aren’t just getting older, getting a degree, and getting alcohol poisoning (I still don’t drink; you never got me there, PC). Now that my biggest fear is out of the way (getting a job), it’s hitting me how much I’ll miss this place, for all its scariness and strangeness.
When I see groups of tours strolling around campus at the pace of a tortoise while I’m buzzing to class at the speed of a hare, I slow down for a second and consider how some of those people might be where I was, who I was, and how they might change here, too. How they might feel like they don’t fit in. How maybe, hopefully, they find a place like The Cowl, a place and a people where they feel like they can be themselves, whoever that might turn out to be.
Most of the time, I still think PC is a tough place to feel like you fit in. I mean, I’m writing this as hundreds (thousands?) of students are wearing overpriced preppy clothes they’ll never wear again, trying to look like they belong at a golf course, when instead they’re huddled together like penguins on a pavement iceberg. Some things about you I’ll never understand, PC, and I’m okay with it staying that way. You have your fair share of problems. But that’s what The Cowl’s Opinion section is for.
Not a Goodbye
by trogers5 on May 5, 2022
Portfolio
by Mariela Flores ‘23
This Poem is for my best friend.
A goodbye is near, it lingers in our air.
I feel the goodbye when we share a meal in a comfortable silence––
I feel the goodbye during late nights when all I want is to absorb any time
I have left with you.
It is dramatic to say my life will change when you are off
seeing, feeling, experiencing all new things,
you will have a new rhythm, a new song.
I will not know the words.
You will grow into the person I’ve always known you could be
and you will meet new people whom you will dance with
until your feet are tired, and your cheeks are flushed
with the feeling of this new life. And I will watch from afar.
This is not a bitter end. You are not going far.
But I will miss all the nights, mornings, evenings, minutes, days
hours, seconds, all the time we had together in this place that never quite felt
like home until I knew you were in it. Friend.
Here’s to you and all lines you’ve crossed.
Here’s to the cries, the fights, the feeling that kept you in bed
and the sun that took you out of it. Here’s to it all.
I will not say goodbye.
But I will say I miss you.
As
you
cross
the
stage
with your head held up high, I will smile.
And I will capture the moment and keep it pressed to the inside of
my mind. I miss you. The world is lucky to have you in it––
I am luckier to have known you for a lifetime, for a moment, for a time.
PC Plans to Celebrate In-Person Commencement
by The Cowl Editor on April 15, 2021
News
by Max Waite ’21
News Staff
On Thursday, May 20, commencement exercises for the class of 2021 will be celebrated with an in-person ceremony at Hendricken Field. As much as this past year has been uncertain, it is remarkable to see how far the Providence College community has come in order to make this event as memorable as it can be.
Despite COVID-19 regulations easing up in the surrounding communities, as well as vaccine availability increasing, parents and guests will not be able to attend the outdoor ceremony. Father Kenneth Sicard, O.P., announced, however, that the ceremony will be livestreamed.
In the past several weeks, students have received their caps and gowns and have taken the time to get their senior yearbook photos done. There is a palpable excitement in the air throughout the community. Michael McGreal ’21 stated, “I’m sure our entire class was wondering what commencement would be like this year. I felt that it was on us to do whatever we could to prevent the spread of the virus. I’m ecstatic that we’re able to have an in-person ceremony.”
The ceremonies will start with a commencement mass for the senior class, which is scheduled for Wednesday, May 19 at 4 p.m. Additionally, there will be a separate, in-person ceremony for graduate school and School of Continuing Education graduates on Friday, May 21 at 6 p.m. Parents and guests will not be able to attend this ceremony either.
The College also announced Dr. Laurie Santos will be the commencement speaker. A Yale University psychology professor, Dr. Santos is the host of a widely acclaimed podcast called The Happiness Lab, where she dives into the factors that can impact our overall well-being. This will certainly be a memorable part of the ceremony, during which the class of 2021 will be sent off with a positive message that we can carry with us on to the next chapter of our lives.
Students will be notified of graduation honors and class rank before the ceremony as part of their academic transcripts. Students who have been studying remotely for the past year are encouraged to join their class for the ceremonies, and, of course, they must provide a negative COVID-19 test before the ceremony. This past year has not been easy, and it is amazing to be able to celebrate the class of 2021 with an in-person commencement ceremony.