Want to stand out in cap and gown? Decorate the mortarboard
It’s hard to stand out at graduation when dozens, hundreds or even thousands of your classmates are dressed in identical caps and gowns.
But some students individualize their appearance by decorating their mortarboards. Designs range from a simple lettered message such as “Thanks, Mom and Dad!” to an elaborate craft project with images, glitter or 3-D constructions. Other students decorate caps with school logos or fraternity or sorority letters.
At the University of Texas at Dallas last year, Laurel Mohrman had a simple message on her cap: “DEBT FREE.”
A 2014 Lehigh University grad, Lisa Glover, attached a miniature 3-D dinosaur to her cap; Glover launched a business called KitRex after graduating, selling kits to make paper dinosaurs.
Nicole Malli, a senior at Ripon College in Ripon, Wis., wants to make sure her cap photographs well when she graduates May 17 because she’s a commencement speaker. She’s been looking on Pinterest for inspiration, and probably will use a pearl design because pearls are the official gemstone of her sorority, Alpha Chi Omega.
Ali Boden, who is getting her degree in sustainability and business from Arizona State in Tempe, will be taking a trip to Europe after graduation and hopes it’s the first of many trips to see the world. She plans to decorate her cap with a map of the world and a phrase “along the lines of ‘The world awaits,'” she said. She’s been going to Michael’s, the craft supply store, to figure out the best materials for lettering.
Marc Goldberg’s mom had such a hard time finding him at his commencement from Indiana University in 1997 that it inspired him to create a business called TasselToppers.com. Goldberg now has shipped several hundred thousand customized mortarboard designs, which let buyers choose background colors and add images and text. There’s artwork on the TasselToppers website, or you can upload your own. Universities have licensed their logos to the company, and some colleges are encouraging high school seniors to put their future alma maters’ names on caps at 12th-grade graduation ceremonies.
TasselToppers’ finished designs cost $15 and are printed on durable plastic the size of the mortarboard, with reusable adhesives. That way, rented caps can be returned undamaged.
Goldberg says he’s been amazed at “the creative stuff that people come up with,” including touching messages “in loving memory of a mom or dad who could not be there. It’s a concept that they’re looking down on them at graduation and the cap is looking back up.”
Also noteworthy, Goldberg says, are designs ordered by older students who might have taken years to finish their degrees (“49 years old, finally done”); single moms declaring, “I did it for my kids”; and designs honoring students who are the first in their family to graduate. He also partnered with Autism Speaks to include the organization’s puzzle-piece logo on his website so that students with issues related to autism can add that symbol to their caps as they celebrate their achievements. “Everyone has a story,” Goldberg says.
FILE – In this May 18, 2014 file photo, a Yale University student wears a replica of an astronaut’s helmet during Class Day Exercises at Yale in New Haven, Conn. To stand out amid a sea of caps and gowns at commencement, some graduating college students are decorating their mortarboards with messages, images and even 3-D creations. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill, File)
This May 9, 2014 photo shows a graduate of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst wearing a decorated mortarboard with a Disneyesque castle and the message, “I Did it My Way.” Decorating caps for graduation is a way to express individuality or send a message of thanks or inspiration. (AP Photo/Beth J. Harpaz)
FILE – In this May 18, 2014 file photo, Yale University students wear a variety of head coverings during Class Day at Yale University in New Haven, Conn. To stand out amid a sea of caps and gowns at commencement, some graduating college students are decorating their mortarboards with messages, images and even 3-D creations. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill, File)
FILE – In this May 18, 2014 file photo, Yale University student Russell Ault, of Cincinnati, wears a decoration on his mortarboard during Class Day Exercises at Yale in New Haven, Conn. To stand out amid a sea of caps and gowns at commencement, some graduating college students are decorating their mortarboards with messages, images and even 3-D creations. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill, File)
This 2014 photo provided by The University of Texas at Dallas shows, a cap worn by Laurel Mohrman at her graduation from the University of Texas at Dallas. She decorated the mortarboard with the words, “DEBT free,” to celebrate her lack of college debt. Any commencement is likely to include some students who’ve decorated their mortarboards with everything from thank-yous to inspirational messages. (Kevin Yang/The University of Texas at Dallas via AP)
This May 9, 2014 photo shows a mortarboard decorated with a thank-you for the graduate’s mom and dad at the University of Massachusetts commencement in Amherst, Mass. Take a look around any graduation ceremony and you’re likely to see caps with similar messages of thanks or expressions of individuality. (AP Photo/Beth J. Harpaz)
FILE – In this May 18, 2014 file photo, a Yale University student wears a decoration on her mortarboard during Class Day at Yale in New Haven, Conn. To stand out amid a sea of caps and gowns at commencement, some graduating college students are decorating their mortarboards with messages, images and even 3-D creations. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill, File)
This 2014 photo provided by The University of Texas at Dallas shows, a cap worn by Laurel Mohrman at her graduation from the University of Texas at Dallas. She decorated the mortarboard with the words, “DEBT free,” to celebrate her lack of college debt. Any commencement is likely to include some students who’ve decorated their mortarboards with everything from thank-yous to inspirational messages. (Kevin Yang/The University of Texas at Dallas via AP)
In this May 29, 2014 file photo, a graduating Harvard University student wears a mortarboard that features a book and a feather during Harvard commencement ceremonies, in Cambridge, Mass. To stand out amid a sea of caps and gowns at commencement, some graduating college students are decorating their mortarboards with messages, images and even 3-D creations. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)
FILE – In this May 18, 2014 file photo, Yale University students wear a variety of head coverings during Class Day at Yale in New Haven, Conn. To stand out amid a sea of caps and gowns at commencement, some graduating college students are decorating their mortarboards with messages, images and even 3-D creations. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill, File)
FILE – In this May 18, 2014 file photo, Yale University student Sharlayne Waller, of Kingston, Jamaica, wears a feathery head covering during Class Day at Yale in New Haven, Conn. To stand out amid a sea of caps and gowns at commencement, some graduating college students are decorating their mortarboards with messages, images and even 3-D creations. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill, File)
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