They will do one last thing together when they walk the line on May 10.

But after commencement the lives of the spring 2003 graduates will run in many different directions when they begin their post-graduate plans.

Henderson senior Demetrius Huntspon plans to go into military service full time – he has been in the Army Reserve for four years.

After taking two more classes in June, and his commission to 2nd Lieutenant, he will leave on August 25 for Augusta, Ga., where he will be stationed for six months. Huntspon said he doesn’t now where he is going from there.

Huntspon said that part of him would like to stay at Western for another semester.

“The one thing about school is nobody is ever ready to get out, you get institutionalized in college,” he said.

Huntspon said he is going to miss the atmosphere and the environment as a whole, but is also happy to graduate.

“I mean I have been here long enough,” he said.

For others like Andrea McWilliams, a senior fro Evansville, Ind., graduation is only a brief break from more schooling.

McWilliams, graduating after three years with a degree in biology, plans to go to dental school in Lexington, which will occupy the next four years of her life.

“I am ready to go to a different city and try different stuff,” she said.

But during her brief break before she starts dental school, she plans on working in two jobs and making some money.

“It is impossible to have a job and go to dental school,” McWilliams said. “So I am trying to earn some until then.”

Some students may continue their stay on the Hill and attend graduate school.

Graduate specialist Robin Fulkerson said that as of Monday, 815 students had applied for graduate programs. Fulkerson said it is hard to project how many students will start their master’s in the fall because there is no application deadline.

“Some come in two to three weeks after school starts,” she said.

Business, education, sociology and library science are the most popular programs among American students, Fulkerson said. Public health and computer science are the most popular programs for international students.

For some like Donny Glass, a senior from Bay City, Mich., plans are not definite.

Glass, who will graduate from Western with a degree in electrical engineering technology, said that he is trying to find a job in the power industry and pay off his student loans.

He has been sending out resum?s and after graduation will continue his job search from home.

“If I don’t find a job by August, I will go back to school and get my master’s,” Glass said.

He said he will not come back to Western for his master’s but consider universities closer to home.

He would prefer to get a job.

” I am totally ready to get out of school,” Glass said. “I’d rather go out there and work hard and make good money than be a college student.”

Reach Marlene Brueggemann at [email protected].