Dennis Bauer
Dennis Bauer is in his second semester of the Master's degree program in environmental engineering at RWTH and was a helper at the 2021 Graduation Celebration. His tasks were not set, rather, he was spontaneously assigned tasks on the day itself.
As a result, I did not know what I was actually supposed to do until the day of the assignment and until shortly beforehand. That was quite exciting. Then I was told to walk into the stadium with the graduates, which was the coolest task in my opinion. I had a lot of fun lining up the graduates beforehand, which was not that easy. Fortunately, the graduates were all in very good spirits and were understanding and kind when responding to our "instructions", as did their relatives. It was generally a lot of fun!
Actually, would you have liked to have been there as a graduate yourself?
Yes, that is how I had planned it, but then unfortunately I was not able to take the last Bachelor's exam until one day after the deadline (on April 1, 2021) and was therefore no longer eligible to participate. I thought it was a shame that absolutely no exceptions were made. But okay, luckily I got an email that I could also participate as a helper. I thought to myself, "Then I'll be there, too, in a sense."
What experiences stick out for you?
I thought it was very cool that I got a free RWTH T-shirt. That was also a reason for me to participate as a helper. And then I was very surprised at first: I had always wanted to go to Tivoli Soccer Stadium, and I thought that the event would be held there. But then I found out that it would be held on the CHIO grounds, which I thought was really cool.
So it was not so bad that you could not be there as a graduate?
In the end, I was glad, because it cost quite a bit to take part. So I could be there for free. And since I am doing my Master's degree, I will definitely attend the ceremony when I graduate and I will have this special event just one time.
Would you participate again as a helper?
Definitely! If you take friends with you to help out together, it might be even more fun. But it is also no problem on your own because there were lots of nice helpers who you then get to know.