Virtual Commencement: Making My Online Graduation Special

Last week, I graduated from Princeton University; well, virtually that is.

After announcing that we had to leave campus due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and courses would be conducted virtually, various colleges began announcing whether or not they would be having an in-person commencement or not. I became worried. My family and I had been looking forward to my graduation for the past four years! My mom had already purchased airline tickets and researched what the three-day celebration entailed: a Class Day celebration with Marshawn Lynch as our speaker, a baccalaureate mass, a department ceremony (Anthropology), a ceremony for each of my minors (Program in Latin American Studies and Global Health & Health Policy Department), Senior Prom (for parents and students), a residential college ceremony, a Latinx graduation and countless other activities to celebrate the Class of 2020’s commencement!

If you know me well, you know I was already preparing my outfits for each event. But I feared these outfits would never see their day in court (or on campus). Most importantly, I worried I would not get the closure I so desperately needed along with my 1,300 fellow members of the Class of 2020. Not only had we been plucked from campus and our lives as seniors, but many of us would be the first in our families to graduate from Princeton or any college for that matter! So I decided to petition Princeton to have an in-person commencement once it was safe to do so! The petition received more than 1,100 signatures and Newsweek Magazine even reached out to me because of this petition to discuss the Class of 2020’s experience during this pandemic (Newsweek Article).

On April 15th, President Eisgruber announced that an in-person ceremony would indeed take place in May of 2021! In addition to this, we would have a short, virtual ceremony on Sunday, May 31st. I was relieved to hear this, but I was also nervous. What if the virtual commencement was pathetic? What exactly would it entail? What would it be like simultaneously graduating and sitting on my couch?

Many departments made videos to commemorate their students or held Zoom sessions to celebrate. Some were nicely done while others were awkward. These departmental videos and Zoom calls just didn’t feel like enough. I was disappointed and felt shortchanged. Thus, my mom and I decided that we should try to make the virtual commencement special. Watch the video below to see all we did!

My virtual commencement was truly fun and I honestly felt so blessed to spend it with loved ones! Still, I look forward to celebrating my graduation in-person next May with my friends and family. I can’t wait to see campus again, walk through FitzRandolph Gate and, well, wear all my outfits!