The long and strenuous hours of study really do come to an end, with more than 2100 students graduating from the Australian National University this week.
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"This is a wonderful time of year on campus," vice-chancellor Professor Ian Young said.
Steve Thornton, 62, was one of the students who graduated on Wednesday with a PhD in the combined areas of education, philosophy and mathematics.
His thesis looked at school mathematics and tried to explore the essence of what it was.
"I called it 'Slow Maths' which is a metaphor for trying to capture what mathematics teaching and learning ought to be about," he said.
A former school teacher, Mr Thornton said school provided students with a "fast food version" of maths and hoped his research would help students want to engage in learning the subject.
"When I talk to teachers they invariably say they can't be as imaginative or creative as they would like to be because they are caught in, I guess, a climate of compliance."
Mr Thornton drew on his 20 years of teaching experience and working at the University of Canberra as inspiration for his research.
"[I was] trying to capture what I've learned over a long period of time and what I think is important in sharing with other people."
With a PhD that underwent many changes and took almost 10 years to complete, Mr Thornton felt a "mixture of relief" to graduate.
"It's kind of nice," he said.
Asked about the difficulty of the process, he said it was hard and easy.
"In some ways, as a mature aged person, it's easier because you've got a lot of background. But in some ways that also makes it harder, because … I've been around too long and I've got too many things I've wanted to say."
He is now committed to turning his PhD into a book.
"I hope [it] will be read by teachers which I hope will be useful for people."
He also wanted to become part of the creation of mathematics teaching programs.
"I'm hoping there will be opportunities to get involved in design and development of mathematics materials for education in schools as much as anything."
The mid-year award conferral ceremonies will be in Llewellyn Hall at the ANU Acton campus from Wednesday to Friday with more than 1270 students attending and another 834 graduating in absentia.
