COBB - Cap and gown, pomp and circumstance: it's that time of year again.

This Saturday, 332 Southern Polytechnic State University students will get their diplomas. On Tuesday and Wednesday, 1,981 students are set to graduate from Kennesaw State University.

"A milestone is completed, the real adulthood starts," said Eric Smith of Covington, a 23-year-old industrial engineering technology major at Southern Poly. "The first step is complete. Now it's time to move on."

Covington plans to relocate out of state, but has not made a decision between job offers in Seattle, Wash., and Greenville, N.C.

Southern Poly will conduct the school's 91st commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 10, at 2 p.m. Lee Rhyant, executive vice president and general manager of Lockheed Martin, will be the keynote speaker at the school's graduation. Lockheed Martin is the largest employer of Southern Poly graduates, officials for the university said.

Commencement exercises at Southern Poly are open to the public. The ceremony will be conducted in the University Gymnasium on the south end of campus, on 1100 South Marietta Parkway in Marietta.

KSU will conduct four graduation ceremonies over two days. The College of Humanities and Social Sciences will graduate at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, May 13. Bernard Osher, founding director of World Savings, will be the keynote speaker. At 7 p.m., Richard Anderson, executive director of the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority, will speak to Coles College of Business grads.

On Wednesday at 2 p.m., Dr. Gregory Simone, CEO of WellStar Health System, will speak to graduates in the WellStar College of Health and Human Services and the College of Science and Mathematics. That evening at 7 p.m., state Sen. Doug Stoner (D-Smyrna), will address graduates in the College of the Arts, the Bagwell College of Education and the University College.

All ceremonies are open to the public, and will be conducted in the Convocation Center on campus, at 1000 Chastain Road in Kennesaw.

This spring, KSU expects to award 478 more degrees than last year, when 1,503 degrees were given out. Early childhood education remains the most popular major at the university; 198 will graduate in the program this year, while 172 graduated last year. KSU, a school of more than 20,000 students, expects to grant 1,527 undergraduate degrees, and 454 graduate degrees. About 263 undergraduate degrees and 68 graduate degrees will be given Saturday at SPSU. This is the largest graduating class in the history of the 4,299-student university. Last year, Southern Poly awarded 274 degrees.

Fifty-one students will graduate in architecture, more than any other major at the university. SPSU's mission is to graduate students in science, engineering, technology, and related fields.

This will mark the first time students from SPSU's construction engineering major will receive degrees. The construction engineering major, introduced in 2006, combines civil engineering principles with construction planning and management skills.

Carolina Daza, an international studies major at Southern Poly from Barranquilla, Colombia, said she plans to stay in the States after graduation. She wants to move to Washington, D.C., and work with an international organization.

Although she hasn't found a job yet, opportunities abound in her field, she said.

"I don't see a direct correlation with the economic downturn, because (my major) is mainly human development and social development," Daza, 21, said.

efarnsworth@mdjonline.com

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