TRIPPED UP GRAD
Diploma 9 days late because of stalled train
NINE DAYS after a stalled train forced him to miss his Hunter College graduation, a Queens nursing student was treated to a private commencement ceremony. This time, he took a car. Jerich Alcantara, 22, arrived just in time for his personal graduation in the lobby of the school’s Kaye Playhouse on E. 68th St.
“I’d like to say that today — not that we don’t have confidence in public transportation — we did send a car for Jerich to get to this graduation ceremony,” joked Hunter College President Jennifer Raab.
Raab formally presented a diploma to Alcantara, who was dressed in full cap and gown, amid cheers from a small crowd of relatives, friends and faculty members.
The school also awarded Alcantara a $500 continuing education scholarship to help him prepare for his nursing exams.
“This is definitely something I’m not going to forget,” Alcantara said afterward.
“Part of me is always going to wish I walked the stage with everyone, but everything that’s happened since missing graduation has been really good, too, so I think it may be worth it.”
Alcantara’s unusual ordeal began the morning of May 30 when his E train stalled between stations in Queens.
A nervous Alcantara and his fellow straphangers waited roughly 90 minutes for a rescue train.
Then they waited several more minutes before the train actually took off for Manhattan.
To pass the time, a group of Alcantara’s friends and relatives held an impromptu graduation ceremony for him right on the train.
Random straphangers joined in, transforming what started as a transit nightmare into a viral video moment.
“He’s enjoying his 15 minutes of fame,” Alcantara’s mother, Marissa, said after Thursday’s ceremony.