ROANOKE, Va. – Roanoke College held a virtual ceremony Saturday conferring degrees to more than 400 graduates.
The college plans to hold a larger, in-person commencement ceremony on a future date that has not yet been determined.
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Roanoke College students finished their spring semester taking classes remotely due to the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
Saturday’s ceremony was broadcast via Facebook Live.
During the ceremony, President Maxey spoke to students at length about the campus community’s resilience in the face of the pandemic.
“This virus has disrupted our lives but it cannot wreck our values or our spirits,” Maxey said.
“It is not often we can claim that, ‘we are part of history in the making,” Maxey said to the graduates watching online. “But, this degree conferral is history in the making. Its virtual format is historic. The last months are historic. The lack of your presence over the past months is historic. Moving to remote learning is historic. For all of those reasons and many more, you make history. In fact, you are creators of history in this moment.”
Diplomas are being mailed to graduates, and President Maxey said he looks forward to calling graduates’ names and shaking their hands at the full commencement ceremony, to be scheduled in the future.