I wasn't expecting that this would be my final graduation ceremony when I said I'd go along. Ideally, we needed 12 members of staff to attend, and when only four or five had volunteered I said I'd go too. In the end, we had 10 members of staff, or 11 if you count the Acting Vice Chancellor, who formally is a member of our department.
There were 233 students there to receive their degrees. I gave each of them 14 claps (yes, I count!) except the three I knew, who got 21. I also clapped at various points when speeches had been made or sections of the proceedings had been completed. Overall, I must have clapped around 3,300 times.
As for why I clapped this many times, leaving my hands with pins and needles, well I was seated in the chair immediately behind the Pro-Chancellor who was handing out the certificate tubes. This meant that I was in the video recording for every student who received their degree. I couldn't really give my hands a rest when that was the case.
My colleague sitting next to me, who was also in every shot, gave each student 8 claps. She took longer between each clap, though, so didn't look as if she'd stopped early. I'd bear that in mind next time I was at a Graduation Ceremony, if I was ever going to go to one again.
Here's a photo of the students queueing to get their actual degree certificates:
