the.com/baccalaureate
a graduation sermon nobody asked for, wedged between diploma and freedom.
means a ceremonial address or degree marking the completion of high school or college, usually with more piety than the actual commencement.
from from medieval latin baccalaureus, the term for a university bachelor's degree; folk etymology once tied it to bacca lauri, laurel berry, the crown given to scholars — probably false but too good to abandon.
international baccalaureatea global diploma program, unrelated to the sermon version
religious rootsoriginally a farewell mass for graduating clergy students
not the sameas commencement, which is the actual diploma ceremony