UTRGV interdisciplinary studies senior Laura Leon will not cross a physical stage this December as a Fall 2020 graduate but instead, she will participate in a virtual commencement ceremony.
Leon expressed her disappointment regarding graduation.
“I was pretty sad and bummed because, you know, I was hoping that by December, you know, things would be better and that we would actually get the face-to-face or in-person commencement.”
In an email sent to the campus community from University Marketing and Communications on Oct. 9, UTRGV announced that the Fall 2020 in-person commencement is postponed and will be offered virtually.
Associate Vice President for University Marketing and Communications Patrick Gonzales says UTRGV decided to postpone the commencement ceremony due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
“Given the ongoing community transmission risk of COVID-19 and that any in-person commencement will present real disease transmission risk to our students and anyone else who attended; the university decided to postpone in-person commencement again in the interest of safety to our community.”
As reported by Vaquero Radio on March 23, the University of Texas System announced that all Spring 2020 commencement ceremonies will be postponed until further notice.
UTRGV held its Spring 2020 graduation virtually for 3,000 graduates through the university’s website in May.
Leon says there is a loss of experience between in-person and virtual graduation such as walking on stage and shaking UTRGV President Guy Bailey’s hand.
“I think that you lose, like, I guess the emotion of just being up there on the stage, getting to see your family, like out in the crowd, you know, I think those emotions are what you miss instead of having the face-to-face commencement, as opposed to having over the virtual one.”
According to Gonzales, UTRGV will have traditional in-person commencement ceremonies for both Spring and Fall 2020 graduates but it has not been decided when.
Leon says she will return for an in-person commencement ceremony for when UTRGV decides to host one.
“I don’t care if it’s a semester later, a year later, I will go back and, you know, experience what I missed when I was supposed to graduate.”
According to the email, the Fall 2020 Virtual Commencement will be Dec. 12.
For questions or information about graduation, visit utrgv.edu/commencement.
THIS IS VICTOR RAMIREZ FOR VAQUERO NEWS.
