Although they will be miles apart, members of the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford’s graduating class will put on their caps and gowns to sit down together at 2 p.m. Sunday.
Instead of being surrounded by their 264 classmates in the university’s KOA Arena, they’ll be stationed in front of laptop computers, tablets or even smartphones with the other people in their homes.
Aunts, uncles and cousins who might have traveled with them to Bradford will watch from their own screens in their own homes, as will the faculty and staff who have become a second family over the last few years.
The university’s usual Commencement exercises at the Richard E. and Ruth McDowell Sport and Fitness Center, as well as commencement at other colleges and universities across the country, have moved online since large gatherings are not possible during the coronavirus pandemic.
A handful of staff will have worked for weeks to create this moment of celebration – interviewing graduating seniors to find out what was most important to them; brainstorming, investigating and learning new technology; soliciting and managing photos and congratulations videos and custom music; keeping track of all that content; shipping regalia; setting up a Zoom version of the annual pre-graduation dinner; creating an electronic slide for reach graduate; and editing, editing, editing.
Staff shipped regalia – the caps, gowns and hoods worn for academic ceremonies – to students last week in time for students to take pictures to submit for the online celebration.
Thomas Dabney’s family had already secured a cap and gown from a family friend for him to wear to a what-was-supposed-to-be-a-surprise backyard graduation party planned for Saturday. But the criminal justice major from Washington, D.C., will now have the chance to don his own fancy academic wear for both the backyard graduation and the online version.
Dabney said a cousin set up the backyard event, complete with mock diploma in a frame. His family now intends to attend both events, just as several members had planned to come to Bradford for Commencement since he is a first-generation graduate.
Nicolette Simon, an exercise science major from Lancaster, is also a first-generation grad. When her regalia arrived, she invited her cousins, who live across the street, to come take photos with her. But the entire family could not resist congratulating her and carefully and quickly broke social distancing protocol to take an extended-family photo.
Before she put on her regalia, Madi Feeser, an athletic training major from East Berlin, had to run to Walmart for a few supplies to decorate her cap. In recent years, decorating caps has become part of the Pitt-Bradford celebration week as students thank parents or God, celebrate their chosen major or career, or just joke around. Feeser said hers was going to say “I’m through with this B.S.”
The Pitt-Bradford Alumni Association is even sponsoring a contest for those who share their decorated caps on social media with the hashtag #UPBGRAD20. There will be prizes for the ones that illustrate the most Panther pride, best major/career specific, most artistic, best pop cultural reference and most inspirational.
Anuja Sharma, an international affairs student from Harrisburg, posted a picture of her cap with the hashtag earlier this week on Facebook. In the picture, her parents smile and hold the cap, which is decorated with a map of the world. “They migrated so I graduated,” it reads. “Proud daughter of immigrants.”
For those who’d like to take part in the online celebration, it can be seen at 2 p.m. Sunday, when the in-person ceremony would have been held, on www.upb.pitt.edu/commencement, on the university’s Facebook page, www.facebook.com/PittBradford/, and YouTube channel, uPittBradford.
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