After nearly two months after the government shut down universities and colleges across the nation, students will not get to celebrate their graduation with their friends amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Instead, they can attend virtual ceremonies while they receive their diplomas in the mail. Nevertheless, the graduating class of 2020 can still look forward to the celebrities giving their commencement speeches.
Arizona State University's Thunderbird School of Global Management dean Sanjeev Khagram rehearses a virtual commencement ceremony using mobile telepresence robots, due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) restrictions in Phoenix, Arizona, U.S. April 30, 2020. Picture taken April 30, 2020.
Some colleges and universities already hold virtual graduation ceremonies. Most of them are inviting famous celebrities to give their keynote address. Since last month, voices of big celebrities including Tom Hanks, Pharrell Williams, and Tom Brady were heard over their laptops while more celebrities and politicians have also promised their appearances.
Meanwhile, more companies are hosting their own star-studded events to celebrate college graduation across the nation.
On Friday, May 15, Facebook's "Graduation 2020" event will highlight speeches from Oprah Winfrey, Awkwafina, Lil Nas X, and Simone Biles, among others. YouTube also offers "Dear Class of 2020" featuring Barack and Michelle Obama, Lady Gaga, Nobel Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, and the K-Pop supergroup BTS.
The former president will also lead another online event to celebrate graduates of historically black colleges along with other stars.
While it is somehow heart-breaking to skip the traditional graduation rites with the shaking of hands and tossing of caps, these online events are a consolation to graduates who have looked forward to celebrating their successes. Some speakers used the moment to highlight the need to adapt to life's surprises.
Actor Rainn Wilson told graduates of Texas A&M University's School of Law in a video message how sorry he was that they could not share "big group hugs and high fives and kisses on the cheek."
However, he also talked about the valuable life lesson students can learn from such disappointment, which is to "not to take anything for granted." He also mentioned how the world "can be incredibly difficult and fraught" and to know that "things can and will change all the time."
Surprise Celebrity Speeches
COVID-19 survivor Tom Hanks reminded Wright State University graduates that their lives will forever be divided between before and after the coronavirus pandemic, similar to the wars in the past.
In a video message that surprised the graduates, Hanks told them that they finished schooling "during the great reset, the great reboot." He also regarded them as the "chosen ones" who will "form the new structures and define the new realities" for the new world after all that is going on.
Similarly, singer and producer Pharrell Williams gave a virtual speech to Virginia's Norfolk State University to the delight of the graduates.
Williams told the graduates that "they still deserve all the praise" even if the situation is peculiar. He commended the students for successfully making it through college. "[You] made it and today's your day. And man, you made it at a really crazy time in life," he said.
Meanwhile, The Washington Post editor Marty Baron will continue to speak before the Harvard University graduates while Apple CEO Tim Cook will hold a virtual speech for Ohio State University.
