Commencement ceremonies are a time for a graduating class to come together one last time and be honored for their academic achievements, as their loved ones cheer from the stands.
For Florida Gulf Coast University’s spring class of 2020, COVID-19 is making this year’s graduation far from traditional.
Even without a stage to cross this semester, FGCU President Dr. Mike Martin said the university still wanted to find a way to celebrate this graduating class.
“We really do have a high regard for this particular group of graduates,” Martin said. “I mean you've got to think about what they’ve done to get here; they came through a hurricane, now they’ve come through a historic pandemic and still nearly 2000 of them are getting their degrees.”
For the first time ever, FGCU will be honoring a graduating class, online. The university mailed a cap and tassel to each student and invited them to record a personal message to be featured in a virtual graduation production.
Bioengineering major Cesar Hernandez-Isidro said he wasn’t a fan of the idea at first, but the idea grew on him.
“I continued to monitor the situation with the COVID-19 pandemic and I was like, it’s better for [the university] to have some sort of way to celebrate the accomplishments that their students are having rather than not doing anything,” Hernandez-Isidro said.
Hernandez-Isidro is a first generation Mexican-American. He said his family took the news of the cancelled commencement ceremony hard.
“They are disappointed because they had a graduation party that they wanted to throw, a party for me,” Hernandez-Isidro said. “And it’s traditional—it’s very, like, within our culture to do these big celebrations for these big milestones.”
Hernandez-Isidro’s mother Lourdes Isidro said the family is sad they won’t see him walk across the stage this semester.
Isidro said in Spanish that it feels like they have been planning a wedding and then there is no ceremony. It's like waiting for a long time and then not getting anything you hoped for.
Although Isidro said she is disappointed the family won’t be able to celebrate her son’s accomplishment with the grandeur, she is overwhelmed with pride and happiness that her eldest son will be graduating.
Hernandez-Isidro is the eldest of four siblings and a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipient. He said he has overcome a lot of adversity while earning his degree.
“Being able to be the first one in my family to graduate from college is something that I feel like is one step closer to the American dream that I want for myself,” Hernandez-Isidro said.
Hernandez-Isidro’s commencement recording will be featured with nearly 2,000 other FGCU graduates in a virtual graduation production that will be available, Sunday May 3.
