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| SamWildow/Staff |
More than 1,700 undergraduate degrees conferred at spring commencement; 2,170 degrees overall.
For many, the University of Dayton’s graduation made up for lost celebrations when the COVID-19 pandemic altered their high school graduations in spring 2020.
On Sunday, graduates got their degrees as they were recognized one by one at UD Arena, something they may not have been able to experience if COVID canceled their high school graduation four years ago.
“I am proud of each one of us for making it this far,” said Rihanna Domingos, the student speaker at UD’s ceremony. “I am sure the journey has not been easy. I know that behind each student here there’s been a series of sleepless nights.”
The journey to this moment differed for each of them, she said, but many of the students had one thing in common.
“What we went through, through COVID, through the pandemic,” Domingos said.
For the graduates who were also high school graduates four years ago, she said things changed quickly for them at the end of their senior year in 2020 when they went from being excited about not having class for a week, to “Wait a minute, there’s no prom?”
Being quarantined and having to miss out on a high school graduation has been a journey for those students and her fellow classmates, Domingos said.
While impacted by COVID, they were not going to be defined by the pandemic, said Domingos, a first-generation graduate in her family in the U.S. who earned a Bachelor’s of Science in biology on Sunday. --->READ MORE HERE
The moment Nandini Rangan walks across the field during commencement in the horseshoe Sunday is one that didn't even seem possible four years ago.
Rangan, 22, graduated from high school during the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020. Instead of sitting next to her peers for a ceremony, her high school hosted a socially-distanced parking lot graduation that families could watch via livestream.
While the pandemic has since subsided, when Rangan and her Ohio State University classmates turn their tassels from right to left Sunday, they'll cap four years of schooling during yet another inflection point as protests over the Israel-Hamas war have embroiled campuses the last several weeks.
Between the pandemic, social unrest and politically turbulent times, Rangan said she feels like she both lost and gained something during her time at Ohio State.
"It's a little bit of both ... I think it's been very eye-opening," said Rangan, a Chicago-area native. "It makes you understand a little better what your values are, what your next steps should be ... You realize who and what are important to you."
Will Ohio State consider canceling graduation due to pro-Palestinian protests?
While the COVID lockdowns that upended life and forced many Ohio State classes online may feel like a distant memory, campus protests have continued right up to commencement.
Hundreds of Ohio State students, staff and professors protested at the university Wednesday in what unfolded as a peaceful demonstration that dissipated at dark. That gathering followed a protest the previous week when 35 people, including at least 16 Ohio State students were arrested.
The protests have spread across campuses nationwide and led the University of Southern California to cancel its commencement. --->READ MORE HEREFollow links below to relevant/related stories and resources:
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