2020 graduates celebrated with special commencement

November 23, 2021 - by Sarah Igram

When Iowa State cancelled their in-person commencement ceremonies for spring and fall 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, graduate students understood the decision to go virtual but also felt disappointed.

“I received my undergraduate degree from Iowa State as well, so I had already graduated in Hilton Coliseum once, so I convinced myself that that had to be enough,” said Breanna Kixmiller, who earned a Master of Education in Student Affairs from Iowa State in the spring of 2020 and now works on campus as an academic advisor.

On Oct. 9, Kixmiller and her fellow graduates got their chance to be celebrated in person, when Iowa State held a commencement for students who received a degree between May 2020 and August 2021. 45 master’s recipients, 52 Ph.D. recipients, and one Doctor of Veterinary Medicine recipient finally walked across the stage at Hilton Coliseum.

For many students, earning their degrees in the middle of a pandemic was a bizarre experience. To observe social distancing, Kixmiller’s graduate program held a drive-through graduation for its students. Stephanie Reinders, who graduated in summer 2020 with a doctorate in Applied Mathematics and Computer Engineering, left celebratory slices of ice cream cake on friends’ doorsteps after remotely defending her dissertation.

“I was sad [to learn there would not be a 2020 in-person commencement], but I thought Iowa State made the right decision to cancel the ceremony,” said Reinders, who is now a postdoctoral scholar for the Center for Statistics and Applications in Forensic Evidence at Iowa State.

Elisa Cárdenas, who earned her Ph.D. in fall 2020 with a co-major in Sustainable Agriculture and Sociology, felt similarly, especially since her family in Ecuador could not make it to Ames due to international travel restrictions. When she learned that there would be a special ceremony for students who had graduated in 2020, her family was able to travel to Ames and attend.

“The ceremony was great closure to all my studies, I got a chance to see my co-major professors for appropriate goodbyes—for now—and my family got to see me get hooded,” said Cárdenas, now a researcher at the University of Missouri.

Thanh Nguyen, a 2020 Ph.D. graduate in electrical engineering, also returned to Ames with his family for commencement. As he got ready for the ceremony, he realized that his borrowed cap and gown had the wrong regalia. When he arrived at Hilton Coliseum, an employee from the Office of the Registrar ran to get him a gown with the correct regalia.

“As a family with kids, we established a special intimacy with Ames after five years living there. Friends and memories make Ames feel like our home. Last week's ceremony was a reason to come back. It's also a moment for us to celebrate what we achieved,” said Nguyen, who now works as an applied scientist for Amazon Web Services. “I was so thankful and felt very happy and proud sitting in the commencement celebrating with others.”

After over a year of anything but normalcy, the students were happy to celebrate and participate in a traditional commencement.

“Iowa State made sure [the commencement] was a legitimate graduation, with all the same attendees, speakers, and processes of a normal graduation,” said Tyler Ertreim, a Master of Engineering graduate now working as a mechanical design engineer in South Dakota.

Guillermo Laguna, who earned his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering in spring 2020 and is now a postdoctoral scholar at the University of Iowa, agreed.

“Nostalgia and the desire to have an appropriate and theatrical end to the previous stage of my life were my main motivations [for attending commencement],” Laguna said. “The occasion was also a good reason to take good pictures and to brag about my degree.”

For Jerry Hartman, who had fought to earn his Master of Education from Iowa State, there was no question he was going to walk across the stage at Hilton in October. And now that he has celebrated his achievement, he is considering returning to Iowa State for a Ph.D.

My wife and all of our kids have either graduated or are going to graduate from Iowa State. Both our daughters and my son-in-law have graduated.  My oldest son is working on a Ph.D. now, and my youngest son is a sophomore,” Hartman said. “All in all, we will have eight degrees earned from Iowa State. We love our school!”

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