By Alicia Ng

I'M GRADUATING this weekend. For me, university would not be complete without the commencement ceremony.

Everything's ready. The graduation gown has been rented, school library fines have been paid, and most importantly, all requirements for filing for graduation have been met.

This year, Tulane University in the United States had among its guests comedian Ellen DeGeneres to deliver its commencement speech. Since it is highly unlikely that she will be making an appearance at my ceremony, here are the 10 things I want to hear at my commencement:

10 Congratulations

After four years of routine studying, I'm leaving with a professional degree. There was a time when the majority of us could bag well-paying jobs by then, but this happened a long time ago - when GST was still at 5 per cent.

9 University milestones for the past four years

Half of us were probably too hung over to remember what happened, while the other half were too busy studying or throwing themselves into school events. Besides, it's never too late to rally some school spirit, right?

8 Credit for our hard work

A degree demonstrates qualification while experience represents value. But don't remind us of how grades are not supposed to matter at all. It is not everything, but at least give me a bit of credit for learning how to operate the Bloomberg terminal. And if grades didn't count, we wouldn't be awarded degrees according to merit, right?

7 Somebody's inspirational life story

Obama's a good choice. Pick him.

6 Encouragement

Doors started closing on us even before the job search began. After a while, banks started closing down too. Trust me when I say that's not our fault.

5 Words of courage

This is for daring to take on jobs that pay us less than our qualifications demand, and enduring sympathetic nods from strangers who hear that we are leaving school in the middle of a global recession.

4 Something to cheer about

Yes, the economy is grim, the earth is dying and the H1N1 pandemic is closing in on us. But spare us the doom and gloom and share a story, a joke, or at least try to sound supportive. This is supposed to be our big day.

3 Plans to implement stronger e-mail spam filters

There are only so many times alumni donations can be solicited without crossing the line.

2 What makes the graduating class of 2009 significant?

And last of all...

1 Faith

Because everybody starts out at some point with a great deal of uncertainty that cannot be dispelled until years from now, when we have made something of ourselves.

Then can we return to our alma mater and, in turn, give the commencement speech.

So to my fellow graduands, it's been a long ride but I'm right there with you. Happy graduation, and see you at the reunion.

Alicia Ng, 24, graduates with an accountancy degree from Singapore Management University this weekend and will commence her post-graduate studies at Columbia University next month.

This article was first published in The Straits Times.