Virtual toasts, online giveaways and speeches: Colleges get creative with graduation
As soon as she hung up, she dashed down the stairs, ignoring the tears streaming down her face, and sprang into her mother’s arms.
Hugging her and the rest of her family members, Kaylee Van Deusen, a University of Miami doctoral student, shared the good news: She and her 58 fellow classmates would graduate from UM’s Department of Physical Therapy this spring, despite not finishing their clinicals because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
She found out during an impromptu video call with her professors, after weeks of nervous uncertainty.
“It was really emotional. I just kept saying, ‘Well this is it? We don’t get to hug?’ ” said Van Deusen, 24. “It was definitely sad not being with everyone and reveling in our accomplishments together, but I understand the gravity of the situation we’re in.”
That Zoom meeting in early April and a virtual awards ceremony scheduled for Thursday are the closest things to a graduation Van Deusen will experience until December, because UM postponed most in-person commencement ceremonies this semester to comply with social-distancing protocols.
As the public health crisis in South Florida progressively worsened this spring, higher education administrators found themselves facing a new challenge on top of the transition to remote learning: They would have to redefine how they have traditionally honored their graduates.
Schools have taken different paths. Some, like Florida International University, programmed online graduations but plan to hold face-to-face ceremonies as soon as possible. Florida Atlantic University, which is graduating its largest class yet this semester — 3,452 students — falls under this umbrella as well.
Others, like Miami Dade College and Florida Memorial University, have foregone virtual hangouts and gone straight to rescheduling the events for the fall.
‘Zoom mugging’ at FIU
Mark Rosenberg, FIU’s president, believes “no one was more disappointed” than himself when this spring’s Panther graduation got canceled.
“I was sad; I can’t lie,” he said. “It took me a day to get over it. Maybe it’s selfish, but I draw as much energy from those commencements as any of our graduates do.”
He enjoys dressing up, listening to the upbeat music, shaking each student’s hand and smiling for the on-stage photo each takes with him. And he said he believes FIU graduates feel the same way, especially because about half of them tend to be the first generation in their families to accomplish the milestone.
He recalls a few years ago, for instance, when a young lady walked across the stage and asked Rosenberg if they could wait to take a picture with the male graduate after her in line.
As they waited for the man to arrive, Rosenberg leaned over and asked who he was, expecting her to say her significant other.
But she said: “Oh, that’s my father. He’s graduating, too.”
“It’s a big deal. These are very special occasions,” said Rosenberg, adding that he knows students care because he recently saw a “really, really cute meme” of a student pretending Rosenberg was handing her a diploma in her living room.
After he conceded that the priority right now is everyone’s safety, Rosenberg said he got excited about a virtual commencement. His staff arranged for him to wear his robe and deliver his post coronavirus-edited speech at the podium in a recorded video like he would’ve done live normally.
Each college or school at FIU will hold its own virtual ceremony starting at 10 a.m. May 8, but graduates can watch at any time. Each will last about two hours.
FIU asked the 6,000 students graduating this semester to send video clips of themselves to include in their ceremonies and about 2,900 did. The university is also celebrating its graduates on social media with giveaways.
But still, some students don’t think it compares to the face-to-face experience and hope FIU will bring back the traditional event for the summer graduates.
In a recent Zoom call, a doctoral student made that clear for Rosenberg, who was shocked when she mentioned it because the meeting’s topic was not graduation.
“I’m going to graduate in August with my Ph.D. You’ve got to do the commencement by then, that will be the high point of my life,” he remembers she told him.
“That’s what I call Zoom mugging,” Rosenberg joked. “I didn’t see it coming. She basically said, ‘Hey, don’t disappoint us.’ ”
Barry holds a virtual toast
Kimberly Porche‘s graduation from Barry University ended up being completely different than how she had pictured it.
First, she graduated early, because she’s a cardiovascular perfusionist, a much-needed profession now that a respiratory illness is affecting thousands. Second, it was on a Zoom video call, which she described as an “amazing experience.“
She said her webcam was off while the administrators delivered their commencement speeches, which they had clearly edited to mention the pandemic, and then the students turned them on to toast with whatever drink they had at home.
“I had no expectations, because I didn’t even know what to imagine,” she said. “But it was a genuinely really nice ceremony. My mom and I watched together and we were both crying and smiling the whole time.”
Scott Smith, Barry’s vice president for mission and student engagement, said the university held two early graduations — one for 17 cardiovascular perfusionists and another for 59 nurse anesthetists. Students joined from their living rooms, surrounded by proud family members holding signs, and took the Hippocratic Oath virtually.
On May 9, the university will livestream a 40-minute recorded ceremony on its Facebook page for the rest of its graduates. After the speeches, the names of all of the graduates will scroll by, like movie credits.
“We’ll invite them back for in-person celebrations this fall,” Smith said, “But in the meantime we will recognize their milestone this way.”
What will waiting be like?
Florida Memorial University usually holds one commencement ceremony per year — in the spring. But due to the novel coronavirus crisis, the historically black school postponed the event this year and will hold a larger-than-usual celebration come fall.
Joshua Parker, who’s graduating in broadcast journalism, said the majority of FMU’s senior class voted to delay the ceremony, instead of holding it online.
The student government president posted a poll on a GroupMe chat with 109 seniors asking what they’d prefer and then she relayed the information to the school’s administration, he said.
Although he wishes the graduation could take place in May, he said he will still drive down from his home in Deerfield Beach to Miami Gardens in December.
“I was a little disappointed,” said Parker, 21. “But I actually feel postponing it was the right choice. That way it will feel the same way it would’ve now.”
Andrea Giordano, a New Jersey-based mother of two had planned to travel to Florida to see Alex Cohorsky, her eldest son, graduate from the University of Miami this spring. Now, she’ll have to wait until December to see him walk across the stage, and said she thinks it will be different.
“To celebrate six months later loses some of the momentum,” she said. “Alex starts his new job in August, so we’ll have to take a few steps back and go back to college. It’ll be bittersweet.”
Nevertheless Giordano said she’s proud of her son and his girlfriend, Remi Petit, for taking photos around campus one last time after they finished their online courses.
“I thought it was beautiful,” she said. “They didn’t let the pandemic dim their light.”
This story was originally published May 6, 2020 at 3:09 PM.
