Caps off

Virtual graduation set for Dec. 12

Brigitte Ortiz | THE RIDER

More than 3,500 students will receive their diplomas virtually during the Fall 2020 commencement ceremony, which will be streamed at 4 p.m. Dec. 12 on the UTRGV website and Facebook page.

Registrar Sofia Montes said students who will participate in the ceremony will have their photo and personalized message shown in the video. 

“So all of the ceremonies are organized by college,” Montes said. “Students’ names are called out first in order of degrees. So, for example, doctoral students are recognized first, followed by master’s students and then bachelor students, and all students will be announced in alphabetical order. All majors in alphabetical order but not necessarily grouped by majors.” 

She said to help graduating students transition from an in-person to virtual ceremony, the university provided them with graduation care packages. 

“That graduation care package included the mortarboard, which is the traditional graduation cap with the standard black 2020 tassel; a congratulatory letter from [UTRGV President Guy] Bailey; an alumni sticker; and, the traditional UTRGV stole that’s in, like, a silver satin finish with orange embroidery,” Montes said. 

She said the university encourages students to take advantage of the ceremony with their families and hold watch parties. 

“If they are viewing the ceremony, they can easily share that screen and share with other people, maybe via Zoom or some other sharing or meeting platforms like that,” Montes said. “Again, the ceremony will be available for up to a year after it actually airs.”

Elein Mendoza, a criminal justice senior, said she is disappointed to be graduating during the coronavirus pandemic.

“You know, all my family, like, looked forward to seeing me walk the stage and some of my family lives out of state and we were all pretty excited,” Mendoza said. “And then COVID hit, so they had to cancel graduation. So, you know, it’s kind of not so sweet [a] moment.” 

She did not submit her picture for the virtual ceremony. 

“I thought, like, ‘What’s the purpose if the whole point you’re taught since elementary that your goal is to graduate with, like, a bachelor’s or master’s and walk that stage,” Mendoza said. “So, to me, it was kind of pointless, ’cause most of my family, as you know, they’re already old. So, how were they going to get access to it? I didn’t bother doing that, so since I didn’t submit my picture, they’re just going to put my name and my major [and] my minor.” 

Kathia Rodriguez, an anthropology senior, said it’s a lukewarm feeling to graduate virtually. 

“I was, like, excited for, you know, the events they were going to do, like, on campus,” Rodriguez said. “And then the pandemic happened, and everything is just virtual. And, you know, I have two older siblings, and so I’ve seen them walk, like, after they graduated college. And so, you know, it’s been my expectation that, ‘Oh, that’s going to be me,’ you know. I’m going to walk in front of, like, a bunch of people with my peers and, like, in front of the people I love and that care about me. And, you know, it’s kind of lukewarm that it’s, like, virtual now, you know, like, it’s not the same.”

She understands why the university made the ceremony virtual.

“It’s like the best decision they could make, especially at this time, you know,” Rodriguez said. “It’s better than no ceremony at all. Like, I appreciate their attempts to at least have a ceremony. But, you know, it still doesn’t stop people [who are] graduating [from feeling] a little bummed out.”

Asked what the university could have done differently, given the circumstances of COVID-19, she replied that they should implement the pass/no pass option as they did in the previous semester. 

“We’re still in the middle of a pandemic,” Rodriguez said. “There’s still people who are dealing with, you know, for example, like, losing their job. Mental-healthwise, you know, [people] are still not doing pretty good because they’re still doing [self-isolation] and, you have, things like that. But, like, other than that, I feel like they tried to do their best with trying to keep the college experience, but also doing their best to keep people safe.”