FIU STUDENTS GET DIPLOMAS
Florida International University held three graduation ceremonies on Saturday, and another three will be on Sunday, with 6,000 graduates. There were masks, social distancing and proud parents.
Florida International University undergraduates participate in a live ceremony to get their diplomas Saturday after a year off for pandemic social distancing.
After four years at Florida International University — including research internships at MIT and the University of California at Berkeley — and more than a year of contending with COVID-19, Patricia Garcia finally graduated on Saturday.
She, along with 1,000 of her classmates, took part in a 2 p.m. ceremony at Riccardo Silva Stadium at FIU’s main campus, 11200 SW Eighth St. in West Miami-Dade. It was one of three commencement ceremonies the school had on Saturday, with another three slated for Sunday.
Florida Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez, an FIU alumna, was the keynote speaker at the 6:30 p.m. graduation.
In total, more than 6,000 FIU graduates over the two days — both in the undergraduate and graduate schools — will walk across a stage, but in keeping with COVID-19 safety protocols, will don masks, stand at a distance from each other and will not pick up a diploma. (They will be mailed later.) Photos on Saturday were taken off stage in a designated spot.
Nonetheless, it was an in-person graduation, even if the graduates were limited to only three invited guests, in keeping with the social distancing. The last time
FIU hosted an in-person commencement ceremony was in December 2019; the 2020 ceremonies were all virtual due to the pandemic. (Members of the Class of
2020 were invited to participate in this year’s ceremonies.)
There were decorated mortar boards, students leaving the stage with their arms held high, selfies, proud parents and at the end, blue-and-yellow streamers shot into the air, like a cloud of confetti.
“I’m really proud of what our faculty have done over the last months to ensure learning could continue,” said FIU President Mark Rosenberg. “Our professional staff worked hard to figure out how to offer a commencement safely to ensure student and family safety, and bring people together in a way that they could celebrate and actually enjoy this milestone accomplishment of our class of 2020 and 2021.”
The students were thrilled.
“The fact that I get to be here in person with so many FIU panthers is extremely meaningful,” said Garcia, one of the first to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary engineering from FIU’s College of Engineering & Computing.
The new program aims to develop the next generation of STEM leaders by focusing on a broader view of the engineering profession.
“I did not think I’d be celebrating in person. I remember that feeling of calling my mom at home and telling her we’ll be having a graduation,” said Garcia, who grew up in Miami and graduated from the Young Women’s Preparatory Academy, part of Miami-Dade Public Schools. “She almost didn’t believe it.”
Garcia, who completed a mechanical engineering research internship at MIT and interned at the Tsinghua-Berkeley Shenzhen Institute at Berkeley, must now decide between a job offer from Microsoft or a master’s degree program at either Berkeley or Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.
She was also earned a GEM Fellowship, a coveted engineering fellowship awarded to top Hispanic, Black and Native American students in engineering and the sciences. Garcia is also 2020 Millennium Fellow, a 2021 NCWIT Collegiate Award finalist and a “Forbes
Under 30 Scholar.”
She spent her last semester in Boulder, Colorado, working on her startup, College Thrifts, which wants to create a more sustainable and economical way to attend college.
Garcia celebrated in person with her mother, father and younger sister. Other family members watched the livestreamed ceremony from home.
“I would attribute my success to being the student who didn’t come to school and then go home,
... being the student who took advantage of all the opportunities that FIU, being the amazing institution it is, has to offer.”
The stadium, which can hold 20,000, hosted
4,000 (one graduate, three guests for 1,000 people) with families and friends spaced apart on benches to allow for social distancing.
FIU gave out water bottles, sunscreen and handheld fans to account for the sun and Saturday’s mid-80 temperatures.
“I think everybody’s really excited that after a year we’re able to do face to face again,” said FIU spokeswoman Maydel Santana.
Romy Dorado attended the ceremony to celebrate her husband Siavash Noorizadeh and his bachelor’s degree in computer science.
She said they were concerned they would have to attend a virtual ceremony and were hoping FIU would come up with a plan to celebrate in person.
“It feels like such a relief to have this sense of normalcy,’’ she said. “I feel so proud that my husband has, after so much, effort finally graduated.”