Commencement Discontentment

This past Sunday, May 20th, Ithaca College was proud to see our inspiring seniors graduate. The weather was gorgeous (slightly hot...okay, really hot), the families were happy, and nobody fell on their face (I think).

We had the extreme pleasure of hosting Amy Kule, the executive producer of the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, as our commencement speaker. She gave a great, refreshing speech that included an extra special surprise: two Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade star balloons that featured Ithaca's name on them...oh, and blue and gold confetti.

It was a fantastic sight, but I'm afraid to say it seemed a bit wasteful. About 6 tanks of pure helium were used to inflate the balloons, meanwhile the world is being faced with a helium shortage (click here for more information). MRI machines rely on helium to operate, so as helium reserves decrease, health clinics will be faced with high costs of MRI machines.

It all seems a bit silly to use so much helium for a graduation...so maybe we should re-think what goes into one of the most important events our college provides and improve how we treat our environment even on days of great celebration.