Houston law grads get their ‘closure’
The graduates sat two-per-row in a spacious, dark auditorium on Saturday. They bumped elbows with the dean when their name was called, and smiled in front of a limited group of friends and family who cheered behind masks.
Instead of letting the COVID-19 pandemic squander graduation entirely, the South Texas College of Law Houston decided to split the traditionally large gathering into 13 separate ones with COVID-precautions.
“I will not mention a word that starts with C and rhymes with ‘novid’ because today is not about challenges, today is not about obstacles,” said President and Dean Michael Barry in a speech he would give 13 times from behind a plexiglass barrier. “Today is about success, about accomplishment, about celebration.”
The two-day series of ceremonies kicked off at 9 a.m. Saturday. Ninety minutes later — after the auditorium was cleaned — more families filed in, new graduates took their seats, the lights dimmed, and it began again.
Each ceremony honored 20 students with up to eight guests each. In total, nearly 300 students fromthe classes of fall 2019, spring 2020 and summer 2020 were recognized.
The law school, founded in 1923, is the oldest in Houston and the third-largest in Texas. The school is located on San Jacinto Street in downtown.
The school hosted an online graduation ceremony in May, but faculty, staff and students agreed it wasn’t sufficient for the tight-knit school community. Students voted overwhelmingly in favor of a delayed in-person event with COVID-19 precautions.
“This is such a momentous moment,” Barry said. “There’s so many first generation students that have never had the opportunity, and COVID denied us the ability to do that in May. And it was really important to us to try to figure out a way to make this happen.”
The school’s commencement typically attracts thousands of people, including the college’s full faculty and board of directors. This weekend, there were only a handful of faculty members. Although the traditional raucous event was untenable, this weekend’s smaller ceremonies were in some ways more personal and intimate, Barry said.
To keep people safe and healthy, elevators were limited to four people and groups were spaced out in the auditorium. Chairs were labeled with a color-coded system with different rows designated for different ceremonies. Cleaners sanitized the room between ceremonies.
Some students said they enjoyed getting the chance to celebrate with their families in-person. Others were happy to see law school friends they hadn’t seen since the pandemic forced classes to transition online in the spring.
The smaller group also meant the ceremony was shorter, said Boone Moyle, who graduated in December 2019.
Putting on the cap-and-gown that you only get to wear a handful of times felt nice, he said.
“That’s what gives you that closure — it’s just the finality of it,” Moyle said.
For Caitlin Hilton, the ceremony was “very overwhelming” and marked a monumental transition point into the career she has always wanted to pursue, she said. The May 2020 graduate now works in immigration law.
“I felt very grateful and it was a time where I could really show my admiration for the people that have helped me get to this point as well by having them here with me,” Hilton, 25, said.
Her mother, Cathy Hilton, said she was very proud of her daughter. It was hard not to cry as she sat in the audience with Caitlin’s friends.
“It was just heartwarming,” she said about the ceremony. “You know the old saying you’re going to burst with pride? I know what that means now.”