University of Connecticut and Daily Campus alumna Gabriella DeBenedictis, ‘20, is looking forward to in-person commencement for the class of 2020.
UConn will host in-person commencement for the class of 2020 and 2021 over a five-day period in May at the Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field in East Hartford.
“I really appreciate that UConn is doing a commencement for the class of 2020,” DeBenedictis said. “It will be nice to get the closure that I never felt like I got when I actually graduated last May. It seems like they’re doing it in a COVID-safe way, and I’m really looking forward to seeing people who I haven’t seen in over a year at the ceremony.”
Any changes to these plans will be communicated if the circumstances change with regard to the pandemic, President Thomas Katsouleas wrote in an email to the UConn community.
“Graduating in May 2020 was probably one of the craziest experiences of my life,” DeBenedictis said.
DeBenedictis is now living in Providence as an associate editor at the Woonsocket Call.
“I wasn’t in a celebratory mood at all when I graduated last May – it was hard to feel a sense of optimism about my own future and/or our collective future while under a stay-at-home order,” DeBenedictis said. “It was also very jarring to make the adjustment from college to the ‘real world’ while simultaneously living through a pandemic unlike anything society has seen since 1918. But things definitely feel like they’re looking up, and I’m cautiously optimistic that we’ll see somewhat of a return to normalcy this summer.”