I told myself for my Associate of Arts “This is just a stepping stone to my main degree.” I skipped graduation.
For my Bachelor of Arts, I told myself “Well, it would be weird to cross a stage and then get questions when I show up for my graduate degree like ‘Didn’t you graduate?’” I skipped that graduation.
Two opportunities to cross a stage and accept a degree, and both times I assumed that I would have another opportunity to complete the task. A silly mistake that many realized well into this pandemic. This upcoming graduation was going to be my final opportunity, and COVID-19 is preventing this from happening.
This is incredibly frustrating.
In addition to working extremely hard in these final semesters, I come from a low-income background like many other UHCL students. I am a first-generation college student and like so many other Black students have stated proudly, I am “my ancestors’ wildest dreams.”
Despite this frustration, I am not upset at UHCL’s decision to continue with virtual commencements and drive-by graduation ceremonies at least through Spring 2021.
Much of the UHCL community is at great risk of contracting and dying from COVID-19. Over half of UHCL students qualify for financial assistance, with many in a low-income bracket. Forty-nine percent of students identify as Black and/or Latinx, some of the hardest-hit communities.
When I say “community,” I do mean the greater community. Not just the people who work and attend UHCL, but our families and peers. The people we cross paths with while running errands or at work.
UHCL as an institution continues to make decisions that hurt its most vulnerable populations, but this is not one of them. I do not want to congratulate the administration for doing their job; however, it is hard not to be grateful to the administrators for sticking to CDC guidelines. Especially when leadership at the state and national level has proven to be so much worse.
It would be near impossible to graduate over a thousand students while socially distancing and enforcing mask rules. This is before accounting for the faculty, staff and relatives who would also be present. An outdoor graduation in the spring is likely to get too hot and/or be rained out.
Millions of millennials and Gen Zers have lost traditional experiences that mark a transition to “adulthood” like proms, graduations, large weddings, moving out or away, and more because of this pandemic. An in-person graduation is just another casualty.
These milestones are cemented in our culture as major moments, and they certainly are, but we will have more. COVID-19 forced us to rethink what is important.
Whatever the parameters, there will be many other moments to cherish with my family and friends because we all made the hard decisions to set our next in-person gathering as an indefinite TBD.
Over 500,000 people in the United States alone have lost the opportunity to attend their own graduation and/or the commencement of a loved one. That is why — even with this virtual commencement version hosted at the same computer where we have spent the last year in our Zoom pajama bottoms — this is the best option.
When we come out on the other side of this pandemic, I know I will be more grateful to see everyone who survived show up to our several-times-rescheduled celebration.
