Coronavirus Commencement

On Wednesday, April 1st, the Long Beach Unified School District announced the closure of all LBUSD schools for the rest of the academic year. Along with this closure, it has also been announced that LBUSD graduations for the Class of 2020 will not proceed as planned and will most likely be a virtual graduation.  We are writing this petition in hopes that the LBUSD Board of Education will consider the voices of students and families who would much rather have this important milestone postponed to the next possible date after the pandemic has concluded instead of a virtual graduation. An overwhelming majority of seniors and their families have expressed that they would prefer a postponed graduation rather than a virtual graduation. This momentous occasion cannot be replicated through virtual means. One of the main reasons for this is because not everyone has access to the technology or internet required for a virtual graduation. This would pose a barrier for low-income students who do not have access to these materials. For many of these students, high school graduation is of high significance — it represents achievement in the face of adversity, and is often a way for students to repay sacrifices made by their families. Some students are also the first in their families to graduate, adding even more significance to this ceremony. This pandemic brought an abrupt end to the school year, leaving many seniors without proper recognition for their accomplishments. Rather than allowing coronavirus to dictate the end of these students’ high school careers, the postponement of graduation would provide hope and a proper sense of closure. It would also allow seniors to come together one last time before ultimately moving on to the next part of their lives. We are not requesting any specific date, as we understand the state of the pandemic is unpredictable and always changing. We are simply asking that the graduation be postponed to the next plausible and safe future date. No matter when this graduation occurs, the Class of 2020 will appreciate the second chance to celebrate this rite of passage in many young students’ lives. In the words of Tiffany Brown, the Assistant Superintendent of LBUSD, “graduation is really a symbol of the completion of a significant life event and it’s one that families get to celebrate together with their students. We have a number of students in Long Beach every year who graduate… the very first one in their family to graduate from high school, and so there’s just tremendous significance around this event.” This very reason is why we are asking the LBUSD Board of Education to postpone the Class of 2020’s graduation.

Being that we are under uncertain times due to COVID-19, many institutions and universities have cancelled their May 2020 commencement ceremonies in order to keep the public safe and combat the spreading of the virus. With this being the case, we understand and appreciate the efforts that leaders of UNCG and the UNC school systems have made to rectify and right this uncontrollable wrong. With UNCG specifically deciding to cancel May graduation and inviting those who were supposed to walk in May, to walk in December graduation, we the May 2020 graduates would like to ask specifically for a few things to make this time special for us as we are now going to have to miss out on traditions and activities for our graduation. WE ASK the leaders to consider postponing to move our commencement ceremony to a month in early to mid-fall (August,September, or October). To give us the opportunity to have a special commencement with those who are a part of the May 2020 graduating class.  WE ASK that we still have a red carpet reception, a UNCG tradition that takes place each spring in the Alumni House on the day before Commencement. We still want the red carpet to be rolled out, we still want special toasts to be offered, we still want our welcome as graduating seniors into the UNCG Alumni Association and GOLD (Graduates of the Last Decade). We want the red carpet reception to be rescheduled as well. WE ASK that if there is no possible way for UNCG to postpone our ceremony to early - mid fall, that for the December graduation we get a separate ceremony specifically for our class, AND WE ASK that if we have to combine both graduations, that we still are given departmental graduations (though they typically do not happen for December commencement) so we can all get the chance to individually walk across the stage due to the fact that merging the two graduations will increase the amount of graduates in attendance. As students are attending graduate schools and beginning careers that involve moving out of state and/or country, we ask to have input on the decision of a potential commencement before the Fall 2020 semester that abides obligatory health precautions. The inability to consider student opinions and timely evaluate other alternatives denounces students contributions from the past four years. We do understand this is a hard decision for the leaders to make in this difficult time. But as May graduates, we still would like to get the chance to get some of what has been taken away from us back. We still want our commencement to be special. We deserve to get to experience the things that we are about to miss out on, and we deserve to experience them fully with our class specifically. We deserve our own commencement ceremony.

Due to COVID-19, the graduating class of 2020 from the University of Montana Western are not able to walk across the stage to receive their diploma they diligently studied and worked towards. All graduating students spend so much time and money to achieve the accomplishments of attending and graduating from college. Commencement is the last step for any student to feel successful. As a graduating senior from the fall 2019 semester, I ask for reconsideration for hosting Commencement in person at a later date.  I understand we cannot predict where this pandemic will take us, but please help me change the University of Montana Western's mind to postpone our graduation for fall 2020 so we can walk across that stage to show off our accomplishments to our friends and family. Every signature and effort to change the mind of the university would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time. 

Earlier today 3/30/2020, the UMaine Class of 2020 was informed that commencement this year will be virtual.  Though we understand we are living in an unprecedented era, we believe that postponing the in-person commencement would allow students to better celebrate the huge accomplishment that is graduation.  Many colleges in the area are simply postponing, or doing both a virtual commencement in May, and allowing students to walk at a later date, when the pandemic is adequately handled, so as to not pose a safety risk.  Though we had a fake "coronamencement," we do not feel as if that was a genuine replacement for commencement, as many seniors were unable to attend due to classes and other commitments.  Finally, we would like to be able to celebrate with the friends, family, and the UMaine staff that have supported us in our time here, and a virtual celebration will keep us from doing that.  The Class of 2020 deserves a real commencement, even if it has to be postponed, please help us get the administrations attention about this matter.