Commencement 2021 To Take Place Virtually and in Person

Camryn Sanchez ’21

With only three weeks left in the spring semester, seniors are preparing for a mix of virtual, hybrid, and in-person commencement events. 

In an email on March 11, President Cristle Collins Judd announced that commencement would be held virtually and “live streamed to allow all students and their families and friends to participate.” Since then, the school has released further information about commencement week which will include in-person events for graduating students, but not their families. 

According to senior class co-president Priya Maskey ’21, commencement ceremony “in-person watch parties” will take place in part at the Barbara Walters Campus Center on May 14. All seniors attending events must be recently Covid tested and must have RSVPed online to maintain Covid safety. This way, seniors will be able to interact with classmates outside their living pods. Maskey and co-president Jasmine Lewin-Holmes are a part of the commencement committee headed by Leslie Lone. The committee also includes Kim Ferguson, the head of graduate student commencement events. 

The commencement week events currently include: virtual senior work presentations, an in-person midnight breakfast at the Barbara Walters Campus Center, a hybrid senior filmmaking showcase, an in-person senior block party and the hybrid commencement ceremony. In terms of the ceremony itself, students will not walk across the stage and receive diplomas. Instead diplomas will be mailed to graduating students over the summer. In a Zoom meeting, seniors are invited to view speeches from President Judd, Congressman Jamaal Bowman, the chair of the senior gift committee, faculty members, and the class presidents. In lieu of having people accept their diplomas, each student’s name will be announced and a picture of them will be shown on the screen. 

After two and a half semesters of online classes, the online and hybrid events are a disappointment to many students. 

“I totally understand and hear people’s frustration because our whole senior year was virtual. Like I know for people last year they missed the last couple of months, but for us we missed the whole year,” said Maskey. 

As some traditional events like the senior booze cruise and the don-donnee dinners had to be canceled, and remaining events will not include all students, teachers, families and friends, the Class of 2021, as well as the Class of 2020, will have an opportunity to reunite at some future event. It is unclear however whether the event will be open to all alums, or organized for those two classes specifically. The Sarah Lawrence College website states: “The Class of 2021 will have the opportunity to celebrate in-person at a future date. Details are not available at this time, but will be announced when more information is available.” As of now, no in-person events are scheduled for the class of 2020 or the class of 2021 after the current school year.

Without the possibility of a fully in-person graduation, having a mix of virtual, hybrid, and in-person events includes graduating students on and off campus. Although the lack of a full graduation is disappointing, there will be opportunities for students on and off campus to celebrate.