2020 USU graduates recognized with one-of-a-kind ceremony
On Oct. 23, the Utah State University Alumni Association hosted a cap and gown ceremony for all 2020 USU graduates and their friends and families.
This ceremony took place in the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum on Logan campus, and included a virtual option for students who could not attend the live ceremony.
“It’s not a typical graduation because people already have been conferred their degrees and they have a diploma,” said Kim Larson, the executive director of the alumni association. “It’s really a way to celebrate the class of 2020.”
USU 2020 graduates were not able to participate in a graduation as students have had in previous years. Due to the coronavirus, the need to keep the graduates and their families safe was the biggest concern and the commencement ceremonies were canceled.
Last year USU sent out boxes to the graduates to celebrate their four years of hard work. The boxes included their diploma, the diploma cover, Aggie swag and college medallions.
To further celebrate the class of 2020, they presented a video including footage of their years at the school.
However, the graduates still missed out on the momentous walk across the stage that symbolized their accomplishments and that is what this ceremony was meant to remedy.
Larson said about 200 graduates attended the ceremony in person, while around 70 attended via Zoom. Although, there were more than 1,000 guests there to support the graduates.
The ceremony was different from any other graduation, since all the graduates are now alumni and therefore the graduation was organized by the alumni association instead of an academic group on campus.
The alumni association sent out a survey to all of the graduates asking them how they would like to celebrate their one-of-a-kind graduation ceremony. About 1,000 of them responded to the survey and the ceremony was crafted to fit the graduates’ responses.
Along with the special ceremony, the graduates also received discounts for the homecoming football game and for the campus bookstore.
The class of 2020 were also the first students at USU to participate in the Luminary. The Luminary is a celebration of the newest class at the university and is celebrated as part of the pre-semester connections course. Lanterns in the shape of the Old Main “A” were made for all the graduates who attended the ceremony.
Tarren Jessop, one of the graduates who was able to attend the ceremony, expressed appreciation for USU’s effort to give the students the graduation they deserved. Jessop is a first-generation student, and canceling the ceremony was devastating to him.
“It was the first and only college graduation my family would attend, and it was a day I had dreamed of,” Jessop said. “So many people told me that their college graduation was one of the best days of their lives, and it all felt so unfair.”
The ceremony included a brief program where speeches were made from the 2020 valedictorian, Mealii Odum, President Noelle Cockett and the president of the USU Alumni Association, Steve Palmer.
“We are pandemic graduates. We know how to do hard things. We know how to adapt and excel through ever changing circumstances and expectations,” Odum said in her speech. “We can run a Zoom meeting, share screens and create PDFs to write emails better than anyone else.
“Our time at Utah state felt like it ended in the middle of a sentence, abrupt and unfinished,” Odum concluded.
These graduates had this ceremony 541 days later than their expected graduation date.
President Cockett addressed this the in her speech to the graduates and said although it wasn’t the best situation, they still made it through.
“I am grateful and honored that you graduates of 2020, unique in the entire history of Utah State University, are becoming the leaders of tomorrow’s World,” Cockett said.
-Brielle.Carr@usu.edu