United States and Canada

Graduation ceremonies in the United States are often orchestrated procedures involving a march of students onto the stage, the reading of speeches, the giving of diplomas, and an official moment when the students are declared graduated, also called the commencement exercise.

The march is often set to music, usually Edward Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1. In respect for the graduates, the audience is asked to rise to their feet during the processional as the graduates enter the auditorium and remain standing through the invocation.

In United States colleges and universities, the speakers will include the salutatorian, an alumnus of the institution, possibly a famous speaker not associated with the institution, and the valedictorian. The giving of diplomas usually takes up the longest portion of the ceremony: One by one the graduates come forward as their names and major/minor announced. Each of them is given a diploma by an academic administrator or official such as the dean. It is very common for graduates not to receive their actual diploma at the ceremony but instead a certificate indicating that they participated in the ceremony or a booklet to hold the diploma in.

At the high school level, this allows teachers to withhold diplomas from students who are unruly during the ceremony; at the college level, this allows students who need an extra quarter or semester to participate in the official ceremony with their classmates.

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia