Bummed out about the College of Liberal ArtsâÄô cancellation of the fall commencement ceremony? Many are, but, for me, this is a blessing in disguise.

The cancellation is a great chance for us CLAers to create our own commencements and make the culmination to our careers at the University of Minnesota our own.

The first thing I thought about when I heard about the cancellation was that I would not have to sit in a room with 500 other CLAers for three hours. Awesome! One less massive lecture hall style congregation where achievements and individualism are diminished! There are so many ways now to create a small scale, fun ceremony with family and close, graduating friends. Here are a few:              

Look to randomly take over an open room the weekend after finals and pop a bottle of champagne (sparkling white for me) instead of throwing the tassel over on your cap.               

Organize a full scale meeting of interested CLAers on Northrop Mall for a cap-and-gown snowball fight.       

Round up all the soon-to-be graduates of your department and have a short parade down 14th Avenue Southeast with air horns, sparklers and a huge banner declaring that [insert major here] is hitting the job market.

Plan a flash mob graduation at a bar somewhere and, decked out in cap and gown, take a shot when the clock hits 20:11.5 (8:11 p.m. and 30 seconds) to celebrate our grad year (point 5). That leaves the rest of the night for more celebrating, giving a whole new meaning to not being able to walk on your graduation day.

I know there are people who think we deserve a commencement ceremony in December, but we are the only college at the University which has a fall commencement âÄî itâÄôs just a tradition. The University has taken away our commencement, so it is time to take matters into our own hands and create our own commencement fun!