At last ...
During six in-person ceremonies, the University of Dayton graduated approximately 2,150 students May 7-9, with a record number of undergraduate and graduate degrees conferred. Each graduate invited up to four guests, who dotted the seats at UD Arena as they helped their Flyers celebrate thriving and completing their studies despite a most unusual and difficult year.
"Life has already tested you in ways that no other class has been tested across the 171 years that UD has existed — and it didn't come in the way of an essay scrawled in a blue book or a complex problem set. It came in the way of selfless sacrifice, and you aced that final exam," University of Dayton President Eric F. Spina told graduates at four undergraduate ceremonies.
Among those celebrating also included graduates who were commissioned as officers into the armed forces during a ceremony in the Connor Flight Deck.
Spina also spoke to graduate, doctoral and law students about the special circumstances many of them faced — such as helping their children with virtual school while struggling with their own Zoom fatigue.
"Graduates, this is a day for which you have prepared and worked," he said. "A day for which you have studied. A day for which you have scratched and clawed and fought. A global pandemic may have changed the way you learned, conducted laboratory research, and completed clinical rotations, but it has not kept you from chasing your dream.
"This is a day that sometimes you thought would never arrive. But. Here. We. Are. This is your day."
Congratulations, #Flyer21grads!
Additional photos provided by GradImages.
