"We have done our best to give you the best education, but we have also benefited from you." This is what head of department Jan Piotrowski said on Friday July 1, 2022, when he gave a speech for the year graduates.
   With that, he alluded to the many good, and in some cases unconventional, ideas that this year’s graduates have come up with during their time at the department. For this year's graduates have been curious, innovative, and imaginative. The thesis titles that were presented were so sophisticated and at such a high level that it impressed and challenged both high and low.
   Jan praised the graduates for their ingenuity and pointed out the importance of getting fresh eyes and new inputs. He also praised them for their great efforts during the corona and reminded them that even though these are uncertain times our world, one thing is for sure and that is that they are needed out there.

Hang on
This was confirmed by this year's alumni speaker Mette Mains Petersen from COWI. In her speech to the graduates, she clearly emphasized the need for geologists and geophysicists. So, while it may feel insecure and frustrating to be a graduate and looking for your first job, you must hang in there. There is a need for them out there, and they will end up in a job. Maybe it's not going to be the job they're dreaming of right now. But that can be a good thing, because maybe they find out that it was actually something completely different that suited them best.
   Mette told about her own path from new graduate to environmental geologist at COWI and gave good advice. For example, she made it clear that it does not matter whether you got 12 in every course or not. Very few companies look at your exam results at all. And then she reminded the graduates that they don’t have to know it all from the beginning. No one knows everything, but you can learn things along the way.
   Mette's speech was spiced with several dinosaurs that elicited giggles from everyone in the auditorium, and it was with a smile on her face that she ended her speech by telling the graduates that they must remember to enjoy the summer and the freedom before burying themselves in job applications and worries about the future.

Five good years
Then it was graduate Bjarke Nebsbjerg's turn to give a speech, where he thanked his fellow students for some good years. The good years could subsequently be glimpsed in a video collage with photos and video clips from the graduate’s five-year journey on Geoscience. Here were both small glimpses from teaching, parties, and field trips, and one sensed the good camaraderie that has been in the group.
   After a lot of smiles and laugher, each graduate was presented with a greeting card and a small gift from the department. The supervisors had a few last words for each graduate, and then they could walk out of the auditorium for the last time to celebrate the day with family, friends, and each other.

We will miss you all, and to quote the head of the department again in his speech: “We are proud of you. Stay in touch. And once again: congratulations.”