Graduation Stoles

[equeen]

Is it a tradition within your organization to wear a stole at graduation? If so - what kind of reprentation of your fraternity/sorority do you have besides the obvious (colors, letters)?

Thanks!

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Pure as Silver, and True Blue!
Alpha Sigma Kappa - Women in Technical Studies

At my university, the only individuals allowed to wear stoles are those who are receiving graduate and doctoral degrees.

It's usually tradition to decorate graduation caps, and sometimes we like to cut our letters out of felt and paste them onto the caps.

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*I'm an Alpha Gam...Yes I am, Yes I am!*

Originally posted by brooklineu:
Be patient with my ignorance, but what is a stole?

Brookline, ignorance has nothing to do with it. I didn't know what a stole was until high school graduation.

A stole is that piece of material a person wears with the graduation gown. Usually the color of the stole denotes what field you are getting your degree in.

[CutiePie2000]

Originally posted by OohTeenyWahine:
A stole is that piece of material a person wears with the graduation gown. Usually the color of the stole denotes what field you are getting your degree in.

Are you referring to the v-neck shaped cloth that kind of goes on top of the black cloak thingy? I think I'm getting the drift, but not 100% sure!

(When you guys were talking about a stole, the first thing that came to mind was a "mink stole"!)

equeen, to answer part of your question, I have seen pictures of grads where they put their Greek Letters in masking tape on the top of their grad caps. That way, people from above can look down and see the letters!

[AOX81]

Since a ton of girls from my sorority graduated last semester, we made them. We just used white cloth and had our letters put on them in our sorority colors. It was really cool and it definitely directed a lot of attention to us.

[12dn94dst]

Originally posted by OohTeenyWahine:
A stole is that piece of material a person wears with the graduation gown. Usually the color of the stole denotes what field you are getting your degree in.

Actually, that's a hood, not a stole.

[12dn94dst]

I've seen these types of stoles at graduations and some formal events:

[CutiePie2000]

Thanks for the pics above. I have no idea that such things existed.
At a school I attended, we had a black drapey robe, and then a blue v shaped collar that got plopped on top (no hood attached though), so that was what I was thinking at first:
[img] http://www.alumni.bcit.ca/images/homegraphic.gif [/img]

[This message has been edited by CutiePie2000 (edited February 20, 2001).]

[12dn94dst]

Originally posted by CutiePie2000:
Thanks for the pics above. I have no idea that such things existed.
At a school I attended, we had a black drapey robe, and then a blue v shaped collar that got plopped on top (no hood attached though)

You're welcome. FYI the "blue v-shaped collar that gets plopped on top" IS the hood. It's not the cover-your-head type of hood that's on a jacket or sweatshirt.

[This message has been edited by 12dn94dst (edited February 20, 2001).]

[CutiePie2000]

Originally posted by 12dn94dst:
[b] You're welcome. FYI the "blue v-shaped collar that gets plopped on top" IS the hood. It's not the cover-your-head type of hood that's on a jacket or sweatshirt.
[B]

Ah so! Thanks for clarifying that. At my high school graduation, my teachers wore gowns that actually had head-covering hoods attached, hence my confusion.

Originally posted by 12dn94dst:
Actually, that's a hood, not a stole.

I know what hoods are, but at my school we also have the different colors of stoles that people wear to indicate what field they're in.

[BFulton]

It wasn't a tradition where I went to school, but we had several requests from our Sigma Alpha chapters, so now we offer both stoles and cords. The cords are similar to an honor cord, and are in our colors.

Some schools apparently don't allow them for the graduation ceremony itself, but at other campuses, I hear that all the GLOs wear them.

[33girl]

12dn94dst - those stoles are the COOLEST!!!! I wish we would have known about things like that, but even if we had, the school wouldn't have allowed it. Party poopers.

[Eclipse]

Originally posted by brooklineu:
Oh, I get it now=) We don't have that at my school - maybe it's an American thing?

I think those stoles are really cool! It would be fun to decorate one.

Brooklineu & others,
The stoles that 12dn94dst displayed are actually Americanized versions of traditional Kente cloth from the Ashante (or is it Asante? African scholars help me out!) Nation of Ghana. If I am remembering my history correctly, the cloths are hand woven (the original ones, I'm sure a lot of the ones here are mass produced and marketed). The different weaves have different meanings based on the situation that you would wear it, your place in society, and, I think, special atributes about you (signifying bravery, for instance.) I also think these cloths were reserved for royal families and special high ranking officials. The sorority or fraternity are not 'authentic' kente cloth, but copies of them.

[CutiePie2000]

Originally posted by Eclipse:
Americanized versions of traditional Kente cloth from the Ashante (or is it Asante? African scholars help me out!) Nation of Ghana.

Thanks for such an interesting and informative explanation! I thought the stoles looked almost "religious" (like what a minister would wear), but now I see there is further meaning. Just to let you know, I think you must be referring to "Ashanti". (I've been to Africa, and I did come across this word in conversation/reading).

Thanks again!