Because of the pandemic, the time-honored tradition of convocation was held in an untraditional way and in an untraditional place.
But it was held in-person. There were still robes and hooding, pomp and circumstance and a guest speaker who talked about resilience and perseverance.
Unlike last year’s virtual ceremony, the College of Medicine convocation ceremony was held in an airplane hangar at the Strategic Air and Space Museum. It drew about 120 medical students — now MDs — and their guests, all masked with appropriate social distancing.
“I think it went great, it was very special. We thought it was incredibly important to do something in person,” said Wendy Grant, MD, College of Medicine associate dean for admissions and student affairs. “It was important for students to be with each other and their families and to see how proud they were of each other and their accomplishments.
“It was really great to have an assemblance of something normal. They will always remember graduating during a pandemic,” she said. “All photos will show them wearing masks – something unique to their graduating class.” Elbow bumps replaced handshakes, but these were better than nothing.
The class of 2021 used a ticket system to limit the number of guests.
“That was the hard part — we had to be rule enforcers,” Dr. Grant said. “But everyone was very compliant. We had med students from other classes volunteer to screen everyone. It went very smoothly.”