Aptitude Promotion Ceremony

The Aptitude Promotion is a graduation ceremony for the 4 great Rune Academies of Potentia. What is unique about this ceremony is all of the academies' graduating students participate at the same time as part of Potentia's traditions along with inviting participating guilds from Arcanum City.

History

Originally, there are individual ceremonies for each academy during the 80's like any graduation ceremony in other worlds. But after the Darkness Outbreak where all of the academies participated to stop the mysterious Corruption in Core, the Rune Council and the principals and deans of the Rune Academies agreed to organize a united graduation ceremony not only to recognize the heroic students who fought alongside the protectors and soldiers against the Corruption, but also to create unity for Core.

Execution

The ceremony follows the same format as any other graduation ceremony. While some ceremonies over the years included some performances from other students or visiting adventurer or protector.
During the first minutes, the representative of the Rune Council steps in to give out a speech for the graduating students and the hardworking teachers and staff followed by the principals and deans from each Rune Academy gave their own to congratulate them for their hard work and determination.
After that, graduating students are called on stage and a valevictorian is called to give out a speech as the students' representative. Once the speech is finished, the valevictorian is given the Potentia Shining Sword and the Potentia Moonlight Shield is given to their homeroom teacher to cast a simple light spell or invocation through them. In some cases, a guest sometimes take the teacher's position to shine the Potentia Moonlight Shield if they are injured or gave them permission.
Once the sword and shield lit up and placed in their respective podiums nearby, the students are called out to get their diplomas in order as well as their respective custom weapons they will use in the field. Once the diplomas and weapons are handed to the students, the closing ceremonies will occur with closing speeches from the Rune Council and sometimes, the guests.

Components and tools

On the students' side, they wear the graduation gowns with the colors of their respective academy colors and under them are either academy uniforms or formal wear.
In the ceremony, there is the Potentia Shining Blade and Moonlight Shield, decorative sword and shield that emits light beams if a user focus their mana or aura to it through a spell or invocation. They are considered as important traditional tools for the Aptitude Promotion Ceremony and it cannot go through without them.

Participants

As with most schools, the students of Rune Academies in their senior/4th year are allowed to participate in the ceremonies as long as they have about 85% on their GPA and they passed their Final Exhibition Exams. The graduating students in question are not only allowed to leave the academies as newly realized protectors and adventurers, but they have a chance to be recognized by other guilds and invited to their guilds.
The ceremony itself is organized by the teachers and staff of the Rune Academies along with several representatives of Arcana Protector Guild and Rune Council. They ensure that the graduation proceeds as planned and the graduating students didn't rely on illegal means to participate such as cheating or grade forging.

Observance

The Aptitude Promotion occurs during the end of the school year days before summer vacation. A week prior to the graduation ceremony, there is a small celebration where students from all Rune Academies mingle and their relatives come to support them.

Primary Related Location

Potentia