After Commencement was postponed in March due to the coronavirus pandemic, the University of Kentucky held a virtual ceremony for its 2020 graduates on Friday. WUKY’s Arlo Barnette reports.
Friday’s virtual Commencement celebrated 1,854 graduating students for December 2020, along with 641 degrees for August 2020 conferred by the UK Board of Trustees.
In the 36-minute YouTube video, President Eli Capilouto praised graduates and the whole UK family for rising to the many challenges of this difficult year.
Tamara Vest was the student speaker. She spoke of her difficulties living in the foster care system as a young person, but said she has now gone on to affect change in childcare systems and graduate with a bachelor’s degree in social work.
The ceremony ended with the fight song “On! On! U of K.” performed by the UK Men’s Chorus.
The school is lighting some campus buildings blue over the weekend to honor this year’s graduates. The full Commencement ceremony can be seen on the university’s YouTube account or uky.edu.