A total of 125 graduates of the former Faculty of Mechanical Engineering received commemorative diplomas during the Golden Graduation on Saturday, May 24. They were, together with their loved ones, invited to the ceremony on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of graduation. The event was held on the occasion of the 125th anniversary of the founding of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of the Brno University of Technology.

One of the graduates who returned to his alma mater was Jiří Krčma. At the Golden Graduation Ceremony, he met his old classmates, so he brought with him his university credit book, which he still has preserved to this day. "I have stored it together with my military book, which was said at the time that it must not be thrown away, so I kept it just in case," he says with a smile.

He managed to meet his classmates already last year. "Someone from our speciality organized a meeting. At that time, I found this list from ancient times. Every one admired it," he says, showing a sheet of paper with a list of classmates and their contact details – all from 1979, five years after they completed their university studies in the field of instrumentation, regulation and automation technology. He then worked at První brněnská strojírna and the Research Institute of Medical Technology and spent the rest of his career as a freelancer. And he also taught – for a decade he worked as an external lecturer at the faculty. "When Professor Malenovský mentioned the old wooden barracks on Kraví hora in his speech, it immediately brought back memories. I taught there and quite liked it," Krčma recalls.

The truth is that many participants of the Golden Graduation were at the faculty for the very first time. At the time of their studies, i.e. in the 1960s and 1970s, the Pod Palackého vrchem campus was not yet built, the faculty did not move into it until much later, at the end of the 1980s. They spent their studies in the area in Úvoz street or on the Kraví hora hill. That is why a number of guests took the opportunity to visit the current laboratories as part of the excursions that followed the ceremony.

Graduates from 1971-1975 were invited to the Golden Graduation Ceremony, a total of 2,263 people graduated from the school in those years. 150 of them registered for the ceremony, and 125 graduates came in person, often accompanied by children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. The most distant graduate who contacted us is from Bedford, USA and asked for a commemorative diploma to be sent by post.

In addition to the ceremony, which was also attended by representatives of the Faculty, led by the Dean of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Jiří Hlinka, and the Rector of the Brno University of Technology, Ladislav Janíček, it was a great experience for the graduates to meet their classmates – some of whom they had not seen for fifty years. In his speech, the Dean of FME highlighted their lifelong work and happily commented on the fact that even after half a century, they are proud to belong to their alma mater.

Jiří Krčma would not change it either. "You won't believe me, but do you know what I wanted to be as a child when I used to play with the toy kit? I said I wanted to be a nut and bolt. Then I went to a technical school and then to the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. I wouldn't change it, it was good...," he concludes with a smile. And then he heads back to his classmates.