Rowan University held its first virtual graduation Saturday afternoon.
The Class of 2020 was unable to be on campus for a graduation ceremony because of social-distancing policies implemented to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Rather than forgo the ceremony, though, university officials, guest speakers and students recorded speeches, mostly from their own homes, offering a preview of what other colleges and high schools may choose to do this spring and summer.
The individual speeches were recorded separately in advance, edited together and presented on YouTube and Facebook at 3 p.m. for students and family to watch.
Rowan President Ali Houshmand began the ceremony by congratulating the graduates.
“I’m so sorry that you’re not here so we can celebrate your tremendous accomplishments physically,” Houshmand said. “I commit to you that when the time is right we will come back and celebrate.”
People are also reading…
Adam Savage, host and executive producer of TV’s “MythBusters,” gave this year’s commencement speech. Speaking from Los Angeles in what appeared to be his workshop, he acknowledged from the outset that it wasn’t the ceremony the students had hoped for.
“What’s happened in the world over the last few months is the definition of a disaster,” Savage said. “But still, here you are. You may not be together but you still represent a collective.”
He went on to impress upon the students the importance of growth and to promise them they’ll never be their final selves, but that their lives will be ones of continuous change. He said the trick is always figuring out the next step.
“So the question facing every single human being is the same question facing you graduates today: How do we face a future with incomplete information, uncertain outcomes, and dangers seen and unseen?” Savage said. “How do we forge a proper path to the positive benefit of all? We’ve paused the machine that is the world. How do we get it started again? Together, of course.”
After Savage, Catharine Ni, a graduate of Rowan’s first engineering class in 2000, accepted the Distinguished Alumna Award. Ni took a job with Lockheed Martin after graduation and is now an executive with the company in Orlando, Florida. Since she wasn’t in New Jersey to be given the actual award, Ni held a bottle of wine in its stead.
“I challenge you all that as you go into the world and make a success in your future, make it a mission to attribute that success to the foundation that Rowan has provided,” Ni said.
The next few speeches were recorded individually in front of the school’s Bunce Hall. Provost Anthony Lowman presented the Class of 2020 to the chairman of the Board of Trustees, Chad Bruner, who conferred upon the class their degrees.
Liberal studies major Riccardo Dale then gave a short farewell speech imploring his classmates to choose to be joyful in this time of upheaval.
“You can choose to focus on the good times,” Dale said. “I choose to be happy, I choose to be grateful because a lot of my friends didn’t make it to college. We should be thinking about what we did with the time we did have and what we can do with today.”
After Dale, mechanical engineering major and student government Executive Vice President Jason Fisch led a collection of 18 other students and the school’s mascot in a tassel-tossing tradition on a split screen that looked like the TV game show “Hollywood Squares.”
Lowman gave the ceremony’s closing words.
“We look forward to getting you back on campus as soon as possible to celebrate your achievements in person,” Lowman said. “Until then, stay safe, make a difference in the world and know that we’re extremely proud of you.”
The school’s pep band played “Pomp and Circumstance” and a rendition of Bruno Mars’ “Finesse” from the collective distance of their individual homes to close the event.
