Onward and Upward: Some Advice for Graduates Congratulations! The big day is here! You’re receiving your high school diploma and are now off to college, to enter the workforce or military service, or to learn a trade such as welding or auto repair. For at least 13 years, you’ve advanced from kindergarten to cap-and-gown, learning the language arts, mathematics, history, and science. Diploma in hand, you now find yourself ready to take a big step into adulthood. Or maybe you’re graduating from college. You’ve spent four years or more going to classes, taking tests and writing papers, and acquiring new knowledge and skills. You stand on the threshold of a world outside the cloistered halls and classrooms of your universities, hoping your degree will act as your passport to this new land.