Graduation

Honors Luncheon

Students graduating with Honors at Commencement will also be recognized at the Honors Graduation Luncheon, usually the Friday before graduation. Parents, faculty advisors, department heads, and administrators are invited to attend the luncheon. Following remarks from University President Dan Jones, the Honors graduates will be introduced by their respective thesis advisors. Students should bring their regalia for photos.

Fourrageres will be presented to Honors graduates at Commencement. The Honors thesis advisor will place the fourragere on the graduate’s shoulder at the beginning of the Commencement ceremony for the respective college. The Commencement program will list the level of honors and the thesis title for each Honors graduate.

Honors Fourragere

This is the traditional speech the Honors Director delivers at each Commencement reception recognizing Honors graduates:

"Originally a fourragere was awarded to the members of a military unit for distinguished service. The students we honor here today have shown themselves courageous in the battle for academic excellence, and they have earned the right to wear these braids of distinction.

Of course, blue and gold are the University’s colors and colors of the honors program pin. The Fourragere is to be a reminder of Texas A&M University-Commerce, but the specific colors are symbolic as well. Blue is the color of sincere intellectual endeavor – a tradition that goes back to ancient Egypt. It is reflected today in the blue velvet on a doctoral graduation gown. The blue in this braid represents the inner fulfillment we know these honors students have attained from their work.

Joined separately with the blue is the gold, the symbol of public achievement as in a gold medal. We have every reason to believe that these graduates will have rich and successful futures, bringing credit to themselves and to the Honors Program and Texas A&M University-Commerce.

Finally, the Fourragere is circular, representing the never-ending nature of the quest of both knowledge and excellence.

These students have worked hard to achieve, not these braids, but the personal and public excellence which they represent. We are proud of you. And you should be proud of yourselves and your achievements. You have earned the right to show them to the world by wearing these gold and blue fourrageres."