Texas Wesleyan held its spring graduation robing and hooding ceremonies on Friday in Martin Hall.

Graduating students choose a professor that inspired them to help put on their graduation robes while onstage, signifying that the student is ready for graduation.

“The hooding ceremony that began in 1927 expresses a warm and interdependent relationship between faculty and student,” Wesleyan President Frederick G. Slabach said. “By asking a faculty member to hood him or her, the student acknowledges the importance of this process.”

Former Student Government Association President Tyler Mendez said he chose Dr. Ibrahim Salih for the ceremony.

“He has been one of the many inspirations to me and without him I don’t think I would have been able to make it,” Mendez said. “I was talked into joining him on a trip to China and it changed my life.”

Benjamin Hebron, a 22-year-old criminal justice major, chose adjunct professor William Rucker, who inspired him to minor in scuba.

“I choose Bill to robe me because he is like my dad,” Hebron said.

The hoods communicate the owner’s school, degree and field of study through their length and the colors of the lining and binding.