College Graduation in a Pandemic

by Andrew Churcher 09.2020

The coronavirus pandemic began as a distant threat for Virginians at the start this year. Within a few months, however, that distant threat became an ever-present and dangerous reality here in Virginia and across the United States. Covid-19 disease has fundamentally transformed daily life in countless ways such as how people work, shop, and socialize and have furthermore impacted a cornerstone of American education that millions every year have attended until now - college graduation ceremonies. Several recent graduates from the Richmond ara spoke of their experiences. 

As the pandemic worsened, University of Virginia (UVA) and other Virginia-based colleges cancelled or postponed in-person graduations for the class of 2020 for safer online alternatives. Sirish Desai, a UVA graduate who majored in psychology, realized this inevitability early on as his institution shifted completely towards online teaching at the beginning of March. “We lost privileges and access to facilities,” he says. “I was realistic about how the trend was going. It was just more and more scary when something else happened.” And when more stuff happened, namely cancellations and postponements, colleges followed suit in making tough decisions - one of which was to hold virtual graduation ceremonies. 

A virtual graduation ceremony was held on May 16 for UVA’s class of 2020, but Sirish found the alternative lacking in some capacity. “It was bittersweet,” he says. Friendships he had formed and maintained over his four years at UVA were and still are important to Sirish. The coronavirus pandemic and the institution’s move to an online graduation ceremony denied some closure to those friendships. “We didn’t get to say good-bye,” says Sirish. “I wanted people to know what they meant to me , but I’ll never see these people again. They have moved on.” While students at UVA like Sirish have been disappointed over postponing in-person celebrations to next May, he feels at peace with the decision. “We don’t need graduation,” he says. “I’ve been done since March. I was ready to get out.” The contradiction between wanting to leave and wanting good-byes weighed on him, though. 

Omprakash Lankalapalli, a graduate from the College of Engineering at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) , holds similar thoughts on graduating during the pandemic. Omprakash wanted to focus on his future career and prospects and decided not to attend VCU’s online graduation ceremony.  “I moved on,” he says. “The next day I was already wondering, what’s my next move?” Omprakash considered his graduation from high school. “High school was more special,” he says. “You knew a lot of the people graduating with you. [In college] nobody else really cares. Thousands are graduating with you.” 

 College graduations are rarely just presenting graduating students with their diplomas. Through a combination of institutional legacy and student body work and expectation, they are much more than that. “I missed out on traditions - senior walk-out day,” says Christian Crabbs, a theatre major who graduated from the College of William & Mary. Along with other traditions that go all the way back to the college’s founding.

“Before the semester starts freshman year, you enter through the Wren Building into campus,” Christian says. “At graduation, you leave campus through the Wren Building.” It’s special tradition, symbolizing one’s departure from college and becoming a more independent person. Sirish mentions a similar graduation tradition at UVA where freshman undergraduates sit on “The Lawn” facing the Rotunda, and at graduation face away from the Rotunda.

  Along with institutional traditions, familial traditions have been interrupted  by the pandemic. Graduation ceremonies, college and otherwise, are a chance for families to congregate and celebrate the accomplishments of their loved ones. The current reality surrounding the novel coronavirus leaves relatives, especially older ones, more at risk of complications with the disease. “I wanted to see my relatives,” Christian says. “My grandmothers, godparents were all coming for graduation.” While he currently lives in Virginia, Christian’s extended family stretches all along the East Coast, from New York to Florida. Instead, he found a compromise with his parents. “[We] took a picture outside campus with the cap and gown,” he recalls. “There were a lot of other students there with masks doing the same thing.”

Of course, students and their families weren’t the only ones impacted. Businesses directly relying on graduation ceremonies - hotels, restaurants, and companies producing cap and gown attire - all suffered from the sudden and dramatic change. Customer returns, empty seats, and quiet lobbies speak strongly to this. 

 With the future increasingly uncertain as the coronavirus pandemic rages on, graduates are forced to adapt to the times. Sirish Desai and Omprakash Lankalapalli are both currently enrolled in the Premedical Graduate Certificate Program (CERT) at VCU, a college like many others that has made many courses online, and limited student activities on campus. “It makes it harder for appointments,” says Sirish. “I can’t shadow doctors for medical school.”

Christian has been looking for jobs or internships since graduation at places such as Kings Dominion and Busch Gardens with little success. “[My] diploma is in a rough spot right now,” he says.

Despite these setbacks, he and the other graduates remain hopeful about moving on to the next chapter of their lives. Graduations are in the past, and their futures ahead of them.