University of Winnipeg plans graduation blowout

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This article was published 27/04/2022 (1255 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The University of Winnipeg is making up for time lost to the COVID-19 pandemic by planning an elaborate graduation festival.

“Basically, we’re looking at an outdoor carnival theme, along the lines of the Lollapalooza rock festival,” said the university’s registrar Colin Russell.

“It’s important … that they have the real experience of walking across the stage.”

In that vein, the event has been dubbed “Gradapalooza.” It will feature party games, musical entertainment, photo booths, and concession booths.

Students who graduated in spring of 2020 to the present will be invited to don traditional graduation regalia and strut across a stage, restoring for many an opportunity they thought they’d lost to the Zoom-call days of the pandemic.

“We’re planning to go ahead with this current year’s grads, too, but this is an event to honour the people who didn’t get the opportunity to do a regular grad, who had to do a virtual grad over the past two years,” Russell said.

While some choose to skip convocation each year, others derive great satisfaction from marking an important milestone in their lives, Russell said.

“It’s important to some grads and their families that they have the real experience of walking across the stage,” said the registrar, who is the one to call out each graduate’s name before they clatter pridefully across the stage.

Russell said about a third of graduates surveyed said they’d attend, which could make for a packed festival since, between spring and fall sessions, about 1,400 students graduate each year.

“I made a lot of connections and had so many amazing experiences during my studies. I’m very excited for the chance to come back to campus to celebrate my academic achievements,” said 2020 graduate Melissa Anderson in a press release from the university.

The festival will be held on June 17. This year’s convocation will be held June 9 and 10.

Other post-secondary institutions are returning to in-person graduation ceremonies this year, as well.

Red River College Polytech isn’t looking to match The University of Winnipeg’s Gradapalooza with its own Gradstonbury Festival or anything of the sort, but it will be holding ceremonies for this year’s graduates on June 13 and 14 and an additional convocation for those who graduated during the pandemic on June 22.

All ceremonies will take place at the Centennial Concert Hall.

The University of Manitoba is also returning to in-person convocations this year for those who graduated in February or spring. It makes no mention of make-up ceremonies for students who missed out on in-person convocation during the pandemic.

However, the university says all are welcome to The Annual Traditional Graduation Pow Wow on May 7. It will be the first time the event has been held since before the pandemic hit. The university’s website encourages all Indigenous graduates to participate, so the university can honour their achievements.

Graduates of Université de Saint-Boniface will also celebrate in person once again. Ceremonies are limited this scholastic year’s graduates and will be divided into three events to reduce the number of people going to each.

June 13 marks convocation for la Faculté des arts and la Faculté des sciences; June 14 is for la Faculté d’éducation and des études professionnelles; and June 15 is for all collegiate-level programs.