Graduation is the action of receiving or conferring an academic degree or the associated ceremony. The date of event is often called degree day. In the United States and Canada, it is also used to refer to the advancement from a primary or secondary school level. Many colleges have different traditions associated with the graduation ceremony, the best-known probably being throwing mortarboards in the air.

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Economy The Bureau of Economic Analysis estimates that Montana's total state product in 2003 was $26 billion. Per capita personal income in 2003 was $25,406, 47th in the nation. However, this number is rapidly increasing. According to the Missoulian, the economy has grown rapidly since 2003; in 2005, Montana ranked 39th in the nation with an average per capita personal income of $29,387. The economy is primarily based on agriculture--wheat, barley, sugar beets, oats, rye, seed potatoes, honey, cherries, cattle and sheep ranching--and significant lumber and mineral extraction (gold, coal, silver, talc, and vermiculite). Tourism is also important to the economy with millions of visitors a year to Glacier National Park, Flathead Lake, the Missouri River headwaters, the site of the Battle of Little Bighorn and three of the five entrances to Yellowstone National Park. Montana personal income tax contains 7 brackets, with rates ranging from 1% to 6.9%. Montana has no sales tax. In Montana, household goods are exempt from property taxes. However, property taxes are assessed on livestock, farm machinery, heavy equipment, automobiles, trucks and business equipment. • The amount of property tax owed is not determined solely by the property's value. The property's value is multiplied by a tax rate, set by the Montana Legislature, to determine its taxable value. The taxable value is then multiplied by the mill levy established by various taxing jurisdictions -- city and county government, school districts and others. The state's name is derived from the Spanish word montaña ("mountain"). The state nickname is the "Treasure State." Other nicknames include "Land of Shining Mountains", "Big Sky Country", and the slogan "the last best place". The USS Montana was named in honor of the state. Montana has the unique honor of being the only US state to have never had a large capital ship (battleship, battlecruiser, or heavy cruiser) of any kind commissioned in the United States Navy. In 1902, a group of female students from the Fort Shaw Indian Industrial School began playing basketball and traveled throughout Montana, defeating high school teams and some college teams. In 1904, the girls' basketball team traveled by train to the St. Louis World's Fair. Over a period of five months, the team was challenged by numerous other basketball teams and won every contest, returning to Fort Shaw with the "world champion" trophy. On May 1, 2004, a monument in honor of the basketball team was unveiled at the entrance of the present-day Fort Shaw Elementary School. In the movie 'Star Trek: First Contact', Montana is the location of the fictitious first contact between humans and an alien race, the Vulcans. Montana has the largest grizzly bear population in the lower 48 states. Montana is the only state with a triple divide, allowing water to flow into the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, and Hudson Bay. This phenomenon occurs at Triple Divide Peak in Glacier National Park. In 1888, Helena (the current state capital) had more millionaires per capita than any other city in the world. Montana is one of two states in the continental United States which in addition to not having a major metropolitan area over 1,000,000 in population, also does not border a state that does have one (Maine is the other). (However, it does border the Canadian Provinces Alberta and British Columbia, which together have three cities with a metro population of over 1,000,000.) State symbols * State flower: Bitterroot (Lewisia rediviva), since 1895 * State tree: Ponderosa Pine, since 1949 * State animal: Grizzly Bear (Ursus arctos horribilis), since 1862 * State bird: Western Meadowlark, since 1931 * State fish: Blackspotted Cutthroat Trout, since 1977 * State Song: "Montana", since 1945 * State Ballad: "Montana Melody", since 1983 * State Gemstones: Yogo Sapphire & Agate * State Fossil: Duck-billed Dinosaur (Maiasaura peeblesorum), since 1985 * State Butterfly: Mourning cloak (Nymphalis antiopa), since 2001 * State Grass: Bluebunch Wheatgrass, since 1973 * State Motto: "Oro y Plata" (Spanish: Gold and Silver) Source: Wikipedia.org - English