Thanks and Goodbye

Thanks and Goodbye

by Joseph Stock
Graduate in Architecture


1. Intro

Good morning to all my distinguished colleagues and professors, and to all the friends, family and anyone else who’s found their way into this building.

The best thing about giving this speech is that my studio professors won’t come critique it when I am finished.

I thought a great deal about the topic of this speech. I thought the students that I worked with over the past five years have all been extremely motivated people, so I didn’t think this needed to be a motivational speech. So then I set my sights on solving the global warming problem, but ever since surviving the ice storm last year and five days with no power, global warming doesn’t sound so bad.

Today is a huge change in our lives, and in writing this speech I suppose the best thing I can do is say a little bit about what we’ve just been through, and perhaps a few more words about what might happen in near future.

2. Brief History of Architecture School

Now, to all the parents, spouses, grandparents, brothers, sisters, and friends of the people that are before you about to graduate, I’ve prepared a brief history of what they’ve passed over these last five years.

First year was a lot like kindergarden. We drew pictures of boxes and there was a lot of Elmer’s glue involved. Although we felt fatigued in class, we were still respectful of our professors, and successfully hid any signof such fatigue.

Second year: We all went into our different departments, but more significant is the epic journey we began with Dragoslav, our beloved structures professor. Dozing off in class becomes increasingly difficult to avoid and therefore harder to conceal. As we became more and more nocturnal, we developed keen night vision, and our skin became transparent, much like the animals you might find in a cave.

Third year: Now completely nocturnal, our skin is now harmed by any UV radiation, This explains why the lights were always off in studio, regardless of the time of day. For food, we hoarded sustenance in illegal refrigerators concealed by custom made foam core shrouds.

Fourth year: After a brief study on how to make buildings, we left our the natural habitat that Seaton Hall had become to explore the new lands of Italy, Prague, Australia Reno, Chicago, Fargo, Minnesota, Buffalo, Toronto, Winslow, Sarasota, Wichita, Tulsa, Ottawa, Oklahoma, Tampa, Panama, Mattawa, La Paloma, Bangor, Baltimore, Salvador, Amarillo, Boston, Charleston, Dayton, Louisiana, …

Fifth year: After recovering from this extensive travel, we put aside all of our globetrotting to once again slip into our nocturnal, cave-dwelling ways. Now, with the slightest of ease that only a fifth-year architecture student can manage, we built models with our eyes closed and made drawings with, well, our eyes closed. As you can imagine, this made for some very poorly constructed models and drawings.

All that time spent together, we were molded into the people that make up our profession. This was our baptism by fire, and by going through that, we are ready to proceed into the world. Beyond all the typical legends that surround the everyday life of an architecture student, there was something else. Relationships were formed, and professionals were molded.

3. The End and the Beginning

That pretty much brings you up to speed on what your graduate has been doing. So now I will go back to speaking to my classmates. Today marks the end of many things, but the beginning of many others. For instance:

-If our parents are any example, we’ll go from the “all-nighter” to frequent napping;

-from late night Pizza Shuttle to discussions on daily fiber intake;

-from talking about your favorite trace paper preference to discussing the tax advantages of a Roth IRA;

-from talking about our favorite gruesome X-Acto blade injuries to discussing health insurance;

-from working in a building full of wildlife such as Seaton Hall (including the occasional bat infestation) to hopefully a well designed architecture office.

-The good news is, we are graduating from school and never have to learn anything again. The bad news is, we are graduating into a profession where will we must learn for the rest of our lives.

-The good news is, we are now without any doubt, fully independent and officially grown up adults. The bad is that we are now fully independent and officially grown up adults. The most obvious downside to this is that there will no longer be any parental subsidy for any of our daily operations.

And since we are talking about parents, allow me to elaborate on this topic for a moment. Please, parents, for one last time, give your new graduates some gas money. No really, whatever you have in your pocket would be great. Blank checks are preferred. Some of us have jobs but can’t afford the gas to get there, so please….

4. Thanks and Goodbye

It’s been a long five years; or for some, six; for me, seven; for at least one other I know, eight; and for some others, even longer. However long it took you to get here, there are, no doubt, many people who helped you arrive at this point today. I would like to take one moment to thank just a few of the hundreds if not thousands of people who have helped us arrive.

-To the underground and anonymous organization known as “woodbarn” that secretly competed against the Union bookstore and Varneys, thank you for sticking up for the little guy.

-To Sketchup, thanks for helping us get our ideas out for the past three years while simultaneously making our professors mad…..

-To all the professors, faculty, and staff who gave us a great education, thank you.

-To Dragoslav Simic: thanks for always offering us a pillow when we needed it most.

-To Radinas, thanks for caffeinating the students and faculty of the CAPD.

-To Sallie Mae and whoever that Stafford guy is, thanks for picking up the tab.

-Early Edition, Aggieville, all the cheap Chinese and Mexican food restaurants, we love you, regardless of what the health department says….

-To all our families. Thank for your love and support, and not asking us how little we had slept when we drove home for Thanksgiving, and thank you in advance for letting us design you a new house just as soon as were graduated here.

-I may have told a little lie when I said I wouldn’t motivate you earlier, class of 2008-go out there and fight for your dreams-unless those dreams don’t have health insurance, in which case, find another dream that pays better, or at least covers health insurance.

-To all my classmates: it’s been a true honor and a pleasure. We’ve traveled together, laughed together, cried together, stayed up all night together. We’ve hypothetically gone into the stream tunnels together, fallen asleep in class together, and somewhere in there, gotten a great deal of work done together. I look forward to seeing what we will accomplish in the future. Thank you.