Waking up to the sunlight shining through your window, you get up excited for the event taking place this afternoon. You walk down the stairs in your perfect fitted attire and smell a waft of your favorite breakfast. As the time approaches, you run upstairs not forgetting your dark green gown and your cap that you worked so hard on the week before. It’s your graduation day. Smiling to ease your nervousness as your name is soon to be called, you fidget with your cap. You stare at the art in front of you, proud of the 12 years of education you went through, as you put the cap on and walk towards the stage. Graduation caps are a popular thing to decorate and express who you are. Every cap is unique, decorated or not.

Gowns were first adopted from the churches in the medieval times at Oxford and Cambridge as their graduation garb. After 1321, all graduates were required to wear these gowns during the ceremony. However, caps were not worn and popularized until the 15th century. And when the graduation caps were finally introduced, it was reserved only for master’s degree graduates. By the end of the decade of the 20th century, universities all over the country were dressing mortarboards in their school colors. 

The practice of decorating the mortarboards started in the 60’s where graduates would put peace signs on top of the caps as a protest against the Vietnam War. And the widespread popularity of decorating caps is because of the visual appeal and for social media. Lucy Lin, a senior, has agreed saying, “I’ve definitely seen a lot of super creative caps all over Instagram during graduation. It pushes me to decorate my cap and continue the tradition.” 

“It is a good way for people to end the year and it’s fun to see other people’s cap designs.” Lin continues with descriptions of her design, “I’m going to have some cherry blossoms because I’m going to attend UW and it’s known for its cherry blossoms. And I like its meaning: renewal and love of nature. I’m going to also add a chinese quote to certify my culture.”

Laura Veevaert, a senior, showed a very symbolic and artistic way to bring out the spirit of graduation. Her cap “has a laurel wreath crown along the edges of it representing the roman tradition of a laurel crown being a symbol for victory and also is the root of her name.” Also includes “…flowers…and rings radiating in each petal to resemble an abstract look of a Yoni which is a sanskrit for the most sacred center of the women or the beginning of life.”

Like many other seniors, a future husky, Evan Yee, “…decided to decorate my cap because I enjoy the pure aesthetic of arts and crafts!” He chose to go with a UW-themed design, “I’m super excited to pursue further academics in college!”

Not only are there people decorating their own caps, seniors like Bradley Tian are commissioning for other seniors too. As a coming visual arts major, he took on the high demand and utilized his skills for digital art to create multiple master pieces. He states how it is “quite enjoyable getting to know each client’s artistic taste and their perspectives,” as he discusses the elements/color schemes with his clients. Usually, graduation cap parties for decorating caps together with friends are popular and fun. However, it is a difficult thing to do recently. Tian says “This is our version of a grad cap party. I like seeing my clients happy and surprised at the quality.”

These decorations have no limit and it lets the graduates express anything from their excitement for their next big step, a quote they have been saving for the past four years, the hardships they went through to be where they are now or just to show off their artistic side. 

Yee expresses, “I think that graduation is really symbolic of rejoicing with the past while celebrating the opportunity to move forward towards the future.” 

While every graduate has walked different paths and will keep going through different events, they all intersect at graduation day. And these caps give everyone a glimpse at their past, present, and future lives. So, what would you put on your graduation cap?