2021 WFU Diploma Ceremony

Crossing the Stage Together

By Wake Forest University

May 17^th, 2021

Making an Entrance

Nearly 1,200 undergraduates lined the concourse of Joel Coliseum waiting for the procession to begin. Four small hour-long diploma ceremonies were held throughout the day on Sunday, May 16, to honor students individually.

The long walk began down the stairs and onto green carpeting - the color choice a nod to traditional graduations on the Quad. Wait Chapel could be seen behind the podium in a 40-foot wide panoramic photo. Though it’s not Hearn Plaza, the atmosphere was the same. Proud graduates walked and waved to their families.

Professors, Parents, Families and Friends

Faculty in colorful regalia prepared to honor their students. Business professor Matthew Phillips, head of the Wake Forest Faculty Senate, carried the Mace as he got ready to lead the professors and graduates in for the celebration. Parents and families looked for familiar faces.

Speakers & Ceremony

The ceremony began with greetings from President Hatch, an invocation and shared memories from Provost and 1986 Wake Forest grad Rogan Kersh. Then each ceremony featured an address from a different student. “I’m confident that our shared Wake Forest journeys have prepared us to conquer anything … that life might throw our way,” said senior Savarni Sanka.

Crossing the Stage

On cue, students stood up from their socially distanced seating and exited row by row to walk to the stage. Diploma ceremonies were organized by the degrees being received. With pandemic mask mandates removed just days before graduation, smiles, handshakes and embraces were possible.

Recessional

Before each recessional, a 2021 graduate delivered a brief talk offering thoughts and words of encouragement to classmates before the group recessed back up the stairs and outside to be greeted by faculty.

Walking Through the Faculty Tunnel

The timing couldn’t have been better to have pandemic restrictions lifted so that grads, families, friends and faculty could share hugs, smiles and a few tears of happiness.