Over 1,200 graduating seniors were honored in front of a packed house at the Alumni Arena on Sunday during the University at Buffalo's general commencement ceremony.

A slew of guest speakers received various awards or honorary doctorates for work done in their respective fields in front of UB's College of Arts & Sciences 2008 graduating class. New York State's senior U.S. Senator Charles Schumer also spoke at the ceremony and like the other speakers, recollected his own personal college experiences while also providing some food for thought to this year's graduates.

The words said at the commencement led many of this year's graduates to reflect back on their own personal experiences that they occurred during their college careers.

"My greatest memories will definitely be all the people I met, all the people from all types of places with all types of backgrounds and interacting with them," said mathematics major Brett Cotton.

Although graduation ceremonies often times provide a time to look back at various moments in one's college career, it also serves as an instance to look ahead at what a graduate's future may entail. The outlooks vary between each individual graduate.

"(I plan to) move down to New York City and hopefully find a job pretty soon," said communications major Ian McLees. "My long-term goal is to write or produce for a major network."

However, some graduating seniors are looking to try and stay in the Western New York area.

"(I'm) working right now at Channel 7 and working at some local radio stations," said communications major Eric Loonan. "I want to stay in Buffalo but I'm probably going to have to move out of the area."

Meanwhile, the upcoming plans of some graduates involve staying with the University at Buffalo community.

"(I'm) planning on going to law school right here at the University at Buffalo," said political science major Kenneth Webster. "I want to be a corporate lawyer someday."

But regardless of what field or what place each graduate wants to go to, they all hope to use their bachelor's degrees as a launching point to future success.