Lauren Mays ’21, staff writer
Lebanon Valley College will not have a traditional Commencement Ceremony this May, President Lewis E. Thayne announced on Friday.
While the announcement did not come as a surprise, seniors seem unsure how to act in the wake of the news.
Some, like Kurt Harnish, are reacting pragmatically.
“It’s a bummer that we don’t get to say goodbye to our classmates that we have spent four years getting to know,” Harnish, a senior English major, said. “But there is nothing we can do about it. That’s how the cookie crumbles.”
Katelyn Coulter expressed a sense of regret over the abrupt changes to the end of her senior year.
“I just feel lost,” Coulter, a senior pyschology major, said. “I thought I had all this time to make last minute memories with my friends, enjoy the discussions we have in class and to just enjoy being at LVC. It upsets me to know that I won’t be able to walk across the stage with the same people I started this journey with back in 2016.”
Others, like Meagan Hart, had more of an uplifting perspective on the news.
“I think it’s important to remember that although we will not have graduation, we still did it,” Hart, a senior business major, said. “We took on the toll of long nights, stressful years and so much more. At the end of the day, graduation is just a symbol.”
Regardless of personal feelings, there seems to be a certain understanding that personal health is a priority.
The ceremony has been postponed for now, and while a definitive date has not been set, an alternative ceremony may be held at a later date.