INDIANAPOLIS — This weekend, Butler University is holding in-person graduation ceremonies for the class of 2021.
Usually, the university holds one large ceremony for all of its graduates, but this year it separated the ceremonies by college to allow more room for social distancing. Each graduate could invite two guests.
During the ceremonies, graduates sat spaced out in the stands and parents watched from the opposite side.
“It’s a nice sign to have something in-person. You feel like it is almost normal, not quite but it’s a little closer,” said Anne Marie Ryan, who came to see her daughter Claire graduate.
The graduation was a big moment for Nelson Oliver, who recently recovered from a serious case of COVID-19 and worked full-time while going to school. His parents traveled from Louisville to come cheer him on.
“We will whoop and holler really loud,” said Joyce Oliver. “We try to not embarrass him too much,” added Ron Oliver.
Last year, Butler’s commencement ceremony was canceled because of the pandemic. So, this year, the university made up for it by holding a special graduation Saturday night for the class of 2020. About 330 students returned to campus for the ceremony.
“We went away for Spring Break expecting to come back five or six days later, but we didn’t come back at all for 14 months. So, that was like the rug getting pulled out from under you,” said Christopher Brown, who returned for the ceremony with his grandparents.
The ceremony gave many of the graduates a chance for closure.
“It’s special for our parents…being able to see us cross the stage and get our diploma even though we already received it, but to get that recognition,” said Layne Wright, a 2020 graduate.
The president of the university said even though the pandemic was a challenge, it made his students stronger.
“We are so proud of the thousand-plus from this year and the thousand-plus from last year, so a couple thousand students have been affected in terms of their commencement day with respect to the pandemic,” said James Danko, Butler University president.
Butler will hold three more ceremonies on Sunday. There are 1,235 students in the class of 2021 and there were 1,348 students in the class of 2020.