By Gary Lim

BURNABY — Triumphant cheers and graduation caps flew through the air last Friday as the final graduating class of summer 2012 completed their convocation ceremony.

The Peak spoke with Valerie Burkhart, a recent communications graduate. “[laughs] It’s been a long time coming now. These last few weeks really snuck up on me, I’ve kind of been lost in a perpetual daze of exams, essays and ‘graduation pending approval.’

“But now, after walking across that stage and with my diploma in hand. I’m positive that I’m now ready to step out of this gown and into a six-figure, emotionally satisfying job downtown.” Burkhart is just one of thousands of graduands across the country who will be making the transition from classroom to executive high-powered boardroom.

As always with this time of year, hundreds of engineering firms, general practices, and political offices are being opened across Canada in anticipation of the flood of bachelor’s degree recipients.

One of these newly constructed facilities is the Pandorica Marketing Agency building. This brand-new skyscraper, located in the heart of metro Vancouver, offers ample covered parking and an adjacent shopping complex. The building features an innovative dodecagonal design, allowing up to a dozen corner offices per floor. Each office overlooks the cityscape, providing breath-taking, majestic views.

Jasmine Gupta, a recently staffed nurse at one of the 17 new hospitals opening in downtown Vancouver, spoke with The Peak about the influx of doctors, researchers, and specialists that comes with every spring and summer.

“These young people are just the lifeblood the industry needs.  People with no real-world experience who only know they’ve learned from Wikipedia and PowerPoint slides. Just last week, I was speaking with an associate, when he and I realized that we needed an essay on the evolutionary adaptability of Alaskan trout or the hospital would shut down, or something. Luckily we still had someone on staff who’d graduated last summer at that time, but she’s since moved on to become the chief of medicine.”

Meanwhile the publishing industry is dealing with their yearly rush, trying to keep up with the overwhelming demand for books, memoirs, and essays written by English majors, and the major political parties are vying after the latest batch of political science graduands.

But while most graduands immediately seize the juicy oyster that is the bristling job market, a select few choose to further their studies by enrolling in graduate school, presumably to become astronaut millionaires or something.