A bittersweet farewell: The Class of 2020 reflects on time at USC and what could have been

For Maria Morales, commencement represents the culmination of nearly two decades of work. From elementary school to her last semester at USC, graduation is a testament to her dedication, a love letter to her family and an ode to the chapter she is closing.

“As a first-gen college student, these four years have really been a journey of self-discovery and growth,” said Morales, a senior majoring in global health. “And I was looking forward to commencement, not just because it’s like a rite of passage or anything, but because it was really symbolic of four years of hard work. Not just four years, but it was like 16 years … to be able to walk that stage and really validate that everything had been for a reason.”

But the reality is much more complex for seniors like Morales as universities across the country close their doors and shut down campuses to control the rapidly spreading coronavirus pandemic. USC has postponed commencement until concern over the virus lessens and, for now, will hold a series of virtual events with featured speakers on the original May 15 commencement date. 

In the meantime, seniors have been left uncertain of their next steps. With graduation postponed indefinitely, friendships abruptly disrupted and futures on hold, the Class of 2020 did not expect their last semester at USC to unfold as it has. 

“Once this whole coronavirus situation started, I did not think that they were going to [postpone] graduation,” said Sloan Pecchia, a senior majoring in music industry. “And I don’t think really anyone did because of how quickly this has escalated. I think everyone … felt OK about the fact that we were just gonna try Zoom classes and then be back … and that is not what happened.”

For Pecchia, attending USC seemed like a distant goal — until her dream was realized on acceptance day in March 2016. As Pecchia progressed through her academic years, she became more certain of the University’s deep imprint on her life. For her, and so many others, graduation is the end of an era, a last hurrah before everything changes and a hallmark of the success waiting outside the University’s gates.

“I envisioned [commencement] just as closure for myself because the last four years have been really great, but they also have been filled with a lot of obstacles and challenges that I would not have seen coming, if you would have told me four years ago,” Pecchia said. “So I saw it not just as closure but as a day to close this chapter of my life and be able to start a new one.”

On commencement day, eager seniors move deftly from one place to the next, darting in and out of their school’s commencement lines, greeting family and friends and shaking hands with the veteran faculty who shaped their college experience. The ceremony, which brings nearly 80,000 people to campus annually, has the community moving in harmony, united in celebration of the graduating class’ hard-won feat.

“We know how important an in-person commencement is to our seniors, other graduates, and their families and friends,” said President Carol Folt in a schoolwide email announcing the changes. “You’ve been planning for years for the special moments of celebration and gratitude that commencement provides for friends, teachers, and loved ones.”

Before USC made a decision about the status of commencement, anxiety over graduation was amplified as universities such as Cal State Los Angeles canceled the celebration and others such as Northeastern University opted for a virtual ceremony. As the University quickly moved to limit travel and pull students from study abroad programs, it remained silent about the inevitable changes it would make to graduation; seniors, increasingly concerned about the probability of not being able to walk the stage — donning the traditional black gowns with diplomas in hand — created a petition signed by more than 3,800 people calling for USC to postpone rather than cancel the event. 

Although commencement wasn’t canceled, many seniors felt disheartened by the postponement, as their families and friends had already booked flight arrangements and planned vacations months in advance.

Alexis Nguyen’s grandfather from the Philippines, whom she has not seen since 2016, bought tickets to come see her graduate. Taylor Finley-Ponds’ extended relatives already booked flights from Colorado, Oklahoma and Kansas to attend commencement, tour the city and celebrate with cookouts, restaurant dinners and other festivities. Pecchia, who is from New Jersey, planned for her hometown friends to attend. 

And for most, crossing the stage is more than the ability to cross the accomplishment off a to-do list. For Finley-Ponds, celebrating graduation is for her mother, who never got the chance to go to college, and for her younger siblings, to let them know that higher education isn’t out of reach. This was an accomplishment Finley-Ponds’ had earned amid family challenges such as homelessness.

“[Commencement is] just a time for everybody to come together and kind of not just celebrate me but also get to see each other and see what this accomplishment means to us and my family,” said Finley-Ponds, who is majoring in business administration. “The reason why I came to college was to be a role model for my siblings and let them know college is for kids like us, and this is possible.”

Similarly, graduation is a time when Morales can uplift her relatives and heritage. Morales, who is president of Latino Students in Medicine, was planning to apply to speak at the Latinx Graduation Ceremony — a commencement event conducted fully in Spanish and without the main event’s four-person cap, perfect for her eight-person family flying in from Mexico. 

“[The ceremony is] something that a lot of us were looking forward to, just because family is really important,” Morales said. “They’re the ones that have really pushed me to be here.”

USC has not made any decisions regarding whether in-person commencement will contain the same cultural and school-specific ceremonies it traditionally does, according to a University spokesperson. 

For many seniors, the feeling of missing out on traditional experiences is ubiquitous. The University canceled Springfest, the annual spring concert, and many members of the graduating class didn’t get a chance to live out their final moments on campus as USC students. Marsuk Dilla, a senior majoring in accounting, never took his graduation photos at Mudd Hall, a popular location for soon-to-be-grads, as he had planned. 

While much of the Class of 2020 applauds the University’s decision to not outright cancel commencement, seniors don’t understand the logistics of an online graduation ceremony nor its feasibility and feel the remote aspect makes the celebration impersonal. The decision to postpone graduation festivities was made following Gov. Gavin Newsom’s stay-at-home order limiting all nonessential movement and the Los Angeles County recommendation to halt gatherings of 10 or more people.

For Nguyen, a first-generation low-income student, USC provided ample opportunities to form strong ties with her peers and make connections with faculty, which led to her current position as a post-production clerk at Netflix. As a December graduate, she said she was looking forward to walking with her friends and doesn’t see the benefits of an additional virtual commencement.

“I honestly don’t really understand how virtual commencement is going to work,” Nguyen said. “I saw that they said that they’re gonna have speakers and all that, but … I would want for all that to happen in an in-person commencement but I understand they’re just trying to accommodate for our planned date.”

USC has not yet made a decision on how it will conduct virtual commencement nor regarding whether all of the traditional events will be available to students on an online platform, a University spokesperson said. It also has not chosen the platform on which the celebration will be led.

“The whole point of graduation to me is like a sense of community and being able to finish something together,” Pecchia said. “And I have a feeling virtual graduation is just gonna be like me in front of my laptop alone — so it’ll be interesting.”

Pecchia, along with Finley-Ponds, agreed that while virtual commencement isn’t ideal, she is glad the University decided to listen to students and their graduation concerns. In a recent email, Folt announced USC will make a webpage dedicated to frequently asked questions about commencement, including regalia rentals and purchases. The page will be posted later this week.  

And while the Class of 2020 remains hopeful about commencement, its members are still healing from the wounds of a semester, and storylines, left unfinished. 

Finley-Ponds said she felt her life was cut short when she abruptly left campus. Having built solidarity as a resident of Somerville Place, the Black student cultural floor in Fluor Tower, and as the president of the Iota Beta USC chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha, the first sorority for Black women, she hopes she’ll reconnect with her friends when commencement takes place.

“It is difficult when you just kind of up and leave and … [I want to put] just kind of emphasis on the friendships and everybody just having to leave and live their lives just suddenly is kind of a big deal, also,” she said. “So I think the graduation would also be a time for everyone to get together as far as students and be able to see their faculty and staff that they didn’t get to say goodbye to.”

While Pecchia expects a similar graduation experience simply at a later date, she believes students may not have the same commencement experience, since spring semester events, such as the Annenberg New Alumni Reception and the African American Cultural Celebration, surrounding commencement build up an atmosphere of anticipation leading up to graduation.

“I think the really unfortunate thing about the postponement is that I really hope but I don’t know if everyone who I would have graduated with will come back,” Pecchia said. “And I think that that’s a really bittersweet part.”

Nguyen added that she wants commencement to simulate not only every other graduation in the past, but also reflect the Class of 2020’s unique, difficult college experience — from dealing with the University’s various scandals, including former campus gynecologist George Tyndall’s sexual misconduct and USC’s involvement in the college admissions bribery scheme, as well as the tragedy of the nine student deaths last semester and senior Victor McElhaney’s death last spring.

“I really hope that nothing is going to be taken away from that experience, as in I want it to be treated as if it was a regular main commencement,” Nguyen said. “I also expect for there to be some kind of recognition of what the Class of 2020 had to go through.”