The Central Valley’s 2021 Commencement spur creative celebrations
A Mix Of Live, Virtual, Drive-By Parades And ‘Cut-Out Fans!’
Central Valley student success — and perseverance — is about to be on full display.
As commencement season unfolds and pandemic restrictions abate, university and college members of the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium are planning to celebrate their students’ degree attainment with either in-person events or variations of virtual celebrations that will honor the Classes of 2021 and 2020.
Some CVHEC colleges and universities have begun to announce their plans but true to pandemic-era planning, those celebrations continue to be modified – with changes possible right up to the event date: 15 will hold in-person events and six will hold virtual celebrations. Some of the in-person will include virtual elements, live streams and another will air commencements on live TV.
“Planning committees are to be commended for their thoughtful consideration to meet public health guidelines and creativity to consider student’s desire to celebrate their accomplishments with family,” said Dr. Ben Duran, CVHEC executive director.
“But also to be commended, and rightfully celebrated, are the Class of 2020 and 2021 grads who have shown great determination, perseverance and adaptability in the face of many challenges during this pandemic. It’s great to see them being saluted,” he added.
Planning variations range from multiple date smaller-scales, in-person commencement ceremonies with live stream, virtual presentations, drive-thru vehicle parades, custom fan photo cut-outs to help provide crowd excitement and local television partnerships to air ceremonies for the public.
Here are links to CVHEC members for commencement details and information updates:
Brandman University – Visalia and Modesto campuses
California Health Sciences University
California State University, Bakersfield
California State University, Fresno
