A record number of students graduated from the University of Cincinnati over the weekend. In total, 7,391 students earned degrees and celebrated their academic accomplishments in four separate ceremonies on campus.
For many graduates, this year's commencement was not only their first college graduation, but their first graduation ceremony in general. This time four years ago, schools and businesses across the country and around the world suddenly shut down to prevent the spread of coronavirus, and graduating high school seniors were either left with stripped-down ceremonies or none at all.
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Darl Jacob, who's graduating with a degree in biochemistry, was one of those students. At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Jacob was finishing high school in the United Arab Emirates. His high school didn't hold a graduation ceremony, and without the ability to catch a flight to Cincinnati, the start of his college career at UC was just as unceremonious.
"My orientation was virtual," Jacob said.
His whole first semester turned out to be virtual as well. In the fall semester of freshman year, Jacob was in the UAE attending classes virtually, studying maps of UC's campus, and trying to meet his classmates so he'd feel more at home once he was able to board a flight.
"The time difference between UAE and the U.S. was, like, eight hours, so all my classes were in the evening and I would stay awake until 5 a.m. trying to be a part of on-campus virtual orgs that were there at the time," he said. "It was just my way of trying to get to meet people over there."
Once he got to Cincinnati, Jacob had to quarantine with other international students before joining campus life. Despite the isolation and being a self-proclaimed introvert, Jacob made a point to be as social as possible, which was a challenge as some of his classes remained online and on-campus activities were still limited.
It wasn't until his first in-person class that Jacob started making connections outside the initial group of international students he met when he first arrived, which proved valuable to his college experience.
"The first in-person class I had was a physics class. I was sitting next to this person and I just said, 'Hey how's it going?' and we just started talking and became decent friends throughout the semester. And we were helping each other out during classes when we didn't know what was going on," he said.
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'It definitely didn't feel like school'
Others say the return to in-person classes was a huge turning point in their college experiences too. Kylie Belt and Kimberly Dinh also graduated from UC over the weekend.
Belt, who's graduating with a degree in social work, says many of her classes during the pandemic were asynchronous, so she had almost no interactions with her instructors or classmates.
It wasn't until her final year at UC that Belt met the friends she'd walk across the graduation stage with.
"I actually met one of my closest friends the first day of my senior year of classes," Belt told WVXU. "And a group just kind of formed from that."
Dinh, who's graduating from UC Blue Ash with a degree in applied media and communication, says after doing virtual classes, coming to campus to attend classes made all the difference.
"I tried to stay as focused as I could during the pandemic. It definitely didn't really feel like school," Dinh said. "After COVID, I was really glad that I was able to take all my classes in-person and actually connect with people and my professors."
Unlike Darl Jacob, Dinh had a socially distant graduation ceremony when she graduated from Mason High School in 2021. But attendance at the ceremony was limited and the celebration wasn't as big as she had hoped.
"They let me walk but with my mask, and they only let me bring, like, two guests so I only had my dad and my mom," she said.
This time, several of Dinh's friends joined to support her as she got her degree in front of thousands at Fifth Third Arena.
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'Every memory is my favorite'
After the confetti fell, Darl Jacob navigated the crowds outside the arena to take pictures with his family, who traveled from overseas for the ceremony, and his friends, many of whom he says he built a special bond with while they were quarantined together as freshmen.
Though his college experience was radically altered by the pandemic, Jacob says the friendships he made during that time will be what he remembers the most.
"Every single memory I made with each and every single one of them is my favorite," he says. "They always made my day better. I never had a sad day just being around them. It's hard being away from home, but it's because of these people that I never felt bad."
After graduation, Jacob says he's taking a road trip to several cities in the U.S. with his family before he starts to pursue his master's degree at Brown University.
