Thursday night’s announcement regarding graduation took the seniors by surprise. Personally, I am devastated. I cried and got irrationally angry. After serving Lyndon as an RA, Senior RA, and SGA President, singing at two commencements, serving on multiple executive boards, and making the Dean’s List every semester, I was beyond disappointed. Everything that I had worked for four years seemed to be over.
Then, I took a second and one big deep breath. We are in a global pandemic… still. There are things we just have to deal with and respect. I wholeheartedly respect the decision that was made. I understand where NVU is coming from. I have made my peace with the whole situation. With that being said, I am nervous. After last year’s virtual graduation, there are things that can be done better. My hope is that this year’s virtual graduation will feature more of the traditional commencement we all know and love.
I cannot hear bagpipes without crying. They are one of the most unique aspects of the Lyndon graduation that I hope can be honored. I hope we are able to vote on a student speaker for commencement, toast, and robing. I hope that we get an official commencement speaker and I hope we all enjoy them.
Moving forward, the Class of 2021 wants to be heard, especially those of us who fought to stay in-person and on-campus. This school year has been brutal. We have all had to make time for testing and quarantining, and we have sacrificed our social lives to be able to be allowed on campus.
This fight and struggle must be rewarded. I hope that this is taken into consideration when planning senior week. We chose to return to our beloved campus and I know we want to celebrate together (socially distant and masked, but together nonetheless). Some sort of in-person ceremony or celebration would make all of the difference. It is understandable with the volume of remote students to do virtual graduation, but please do not leave the students who worked so hard to be in-person behind. I really hope that something can be planned by each department, school, or campus. I want a reason to spend the money on regalia and I want to wear it proudly.
As with almost every aspect of this pandemic, we have to be open-minded and creative. If anyone has ideas, the Communications and Marketing Department who is planning commencement and senior week is taking suggestions. Please email your thoughts and ideas to communications@northernvermont.edu.
We will celebrate and make it through. Class of 2021, we have come too far to give up now.
Feature Photo by Quinlan Peer, Design by Alexandra Huff