officially official

It's officially official. I completed my Certificate in Homeland Security Studies back in May (with a 4.0, I might add).

I just received my actual certificate.

My first certificate got destroyed (along with all other diplomas and certificates) when a particular office flooded due to bursting pipe. Then, the printer was behind schedule. Finally, they were all re-printed. But for mine (and, I imagine, others), the faculty members that were supposed to sign the certificate disappeared for the summer. But now it's here:

I'm no expert in academic "stuff" -- but is that ribbon they included supposed to mean something besides just being the school colors?

[update]
Received a Diploma Care and Feeding document:
Congratulations on receiving your degree! We hope this explanation will answer some of the questions you may have about the graduation material enclosed. As you may have noticed, the diploma is written in Latin. You will find an English translation of the text on the reverse of this page for your convenience. You should know that while the diploma is a ceremonial representation of your degree award, the transcript is the legal documentation of it. We’ve also offered a few suggestions for displaying your diploma. Again, Congratulations!

Ribbon
Originally, when diplomas were made of sheepskin, they were presented scrolled; each diploma was inserted through the looped portion of the ribbon. Although today’s diplomas are made of parchment, we still include the traditional ribbon, which may be used for decoration.

The ribbon may be unstitched, pressed, and then arranged diagonally across a corner of the diploma...

...or, the ribbon may be left as is and displayed in the lower left-hand corner.