Three English alumnae happily return to campus for a belated Florida State graduation ceremony
By Sofia Cabrera
Early in 2020 Claudia Craig began anticipating her graduation from Florida State University. She was dreaming of the moment when she could walk across the stage and graduate with her bachelor’s degree in English.
She would finally shake hands with FSU President John Thrasher while wearing her cap and gown, finishing her undergraduate degree with magna cum laude distinction. Although her years at FSU were coming to an end, the next chapter in Craig’s life was just beginning.
“In February of 2020, I had about ten job interviews set up for after graduation,” says Craig.
Then, in March 2020, FSU students were asked to leave campus for a few weeks as the university awaited guidance from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention on the growing coronavirus pandemic. Craig abruptly left her friends in Florida and traveled back to her hometown, New York City.
When Craig returned to New York in the spring of 2020, her days at home were spent mostly indoors, finishing her undergraduate coursework, and deciding where life would take her next. Craig remembers this time as “the most stressful” in her life, including being unfamiliar with the emptiness on the subway.
“There were times when I was on the subway by myself,” she says, in contrast to the normal environment, “packed in a subway car like a sardine. It was sort of apocalyptic.”
With the pandemic in full force, FSU eventually shut down the campus for the remainder of the spring semester. As a New York resident, Craig was unable to say goodbye in person to her college friends and professors. She never thought her classes at FSU would end “on a random Monday via Zoom.”
As her graduation day approached in 2020, and her plans for the moment no longer what she expected, Craig felt deep emotions about the milestone. Her May 2 “commencement” took place in her small, New York City apartment with her parents.
“I was really sad because I could not be with my friends and close that undergraduate chapter in my life,” says Craig, who earned her English degree on the Editing, Writing, and Media track. “I hadn’t received my cap and gown, so my mom had to order one from Amazon. The ceremony happened. I stood up from the couch and moved my tassel.”
Craig was now an FSU alumna.
Luckily, Craig and her fellow graduates would have the opportunity to return to Tallahassee in the spring of 2021 for an in-person graduation ceremony—more than a year after their abrupt campus departure.
With pandemic restrictions lifting, FSU announced in early 2021 it would hold an in-person graduation for spring semester graduates. In addition, the graduates in spring of 2020 were invited back to campus for their own in-person ceremony.
An estimated 2,100 graduates, out of approximately 7,000 who had finished their undergraduate studies in 2020, returned for the three ceremonies held on Saturday, May 22, at the Donald L. Tucker Civic Center.
The graduates were seated three feet apart on the arena floor, and the seating for guests was restricted to four per student, arranged in separate pods in the arena’s upper level. The graduating class included 79 English students, who participated in the first event of the day at 9 a.m.
Andrea Pelaez and Samantha Crawford, 2020 English graduates, also returned for the ceremony, and they both graduated with magna cum laude honors. Pelaez focused her studies in the Creative Writing Program, while Crawford earned her degree through the Literature, Media, and Culture Program.
“Returning to FSU for graduation was nothing short of a thrilling experience,” Crawford says. “Being able to walk across the Tucker Civic Center stage along with my peers really gave me a satisfying conclusion to my tenure at FSU.”
Pelaez says returning “was like I had never left. As soon as I stepped foot on campus, it felt like I was returning home.”
“It will be a moment I will never forget,” adds Pelaez, who earned a second major in media/communication studies.
Like Craig, Pelaez and Crawford also experienced the pandemic’s impacts in their post-college time that began in May 2020. While Craig freelanced for extra pay, Pelaez, originally from Tampa, took a gap year to decide on her future plans.
“Life after graduating Florida State University has been an adjustment,” Pelaez explains. “I was at a loss for what to prepare for next. I had been in school my entire life preparing for the day I would earn a bachelor's degree. So, now what?”
For Crawford, a Tallahassee resident, the pandemic offered “new opportunities that only opened because FSU directly or indirectly prepared me for them.” She worked as a proofreader in bill drafting for the Florida Senate in the 2021 legislative session.
The graduation ceremony provided closure for the students who attended, allowing them to return to the FSU campus after the sudden switch to online courses. For many students, leaving campus so quickly and returning home paralleled the challenging experience that Craig, Crawford, and Pelaez went through.
Now, in the summer of 2021, the world is somewhat returning to normalcy. People are getting vaccinated for the virus and restrictions are lifting as the days progress. For Craig, Pelaez, and Crawford, it has been a full year since they graduated from FSU. Craig is attending Boston University in the fall for graduate school, Crawford is returning to FSU to pursue her master’s degree in Literature, Media, and Culture, and Pelaez is deciding which graduate program is best for her.
Graduation is a huge accomplishment, no matter the circumstances. Craig, Crawford, and Pelaez all say they feel proud to have graduated from FSU as they close this chapter in their lives.
FSU’s President Thrasher, who is retiring before the beginning of the 2021-22 academic year, delivered their commencement address and, as Craig had anticipated a year ago, he shook hands and hugged students as they walked across the stage.
Their hard work truly paid off, even during unprecedented times.
Q&A with Claudia Craig
How has life been different after graduating from Florida State University in 2020, specifically in New York City where you live?
In February of 2020, I had about ten job interviews set up for after graduation. However, as the pandemic hit in March, I received more and more calls from these potential job interviewers, and they each told me how they were no longer hiring and were laying off staff. By the time graduation came, I did not have a job, and it was very stressful, especially in New York City. We were unable to go outside because it was so cold during quarantine. Not only did the cold weather prevent us from enjoying any outside activities, but also New York tends to be stricter than Florida with COVID-19 shutdowns.
Despite this, I decided to make some money and ultimately have something to do while being in quarantine. As I waited to hear back from graduate schools, I started freelancing. While living in New York, I had worked in the summers as an intern. Before, I was used to so many people getting the subway at 8:30 a.m. on a weekday. I was literally packed in a subway car like a sardine with people next to me. When I returned to New York during the pandemic, there were times when I was on the subway by myself. [Outside] it was sort of apocalyptic where you question the air around you. It was nice to have clean air and very few people on the subway. However, it was so strange.
You would look outside and there are empty restaurants and no people around. Now, things are starting to get back to normal. More people are outside, and it seems like a communal sigh of relief to have some type of normalcy in the world.
What was it like to return to FSU for graduation in 2021?
I was super excited to return to FSU for graduation. During the pandemic, graduation day was different and odd. I had my last class on Zoom on Monday. Because I live in NYC, I had just abruptly left my friends in Florida, and I was not able to say bye to my college friends and my professors. I could not even get in a car to visit FSU again because I am so far away. I feel like I just up and left, which was really strange. As graduation day in 2020 approached, I was really sad because I could not be with my friends and closed that undergraduate chapter in my life. In New York City, my parents came to my small apartment, and we conducted the ceremony here. . . .I do have some pictures in my apartment, but it is such a milestone in my life that I couldn’t have a physical graduation. With in-person graduation in 2021, I just knew I wanted to close this chapter in my life and attend graduation. I wanted to say goodbye to people and to do some fun stuff like jump in the Westcott fountain and get coffee at Lucky Goat. It felt really cathartic to sit there and hear other people speak. Graduation is a huge accomplishment, and it felt good to be there.
What advice can you give to students who graduated in Fall 2020 and Spring 2021 and are also navigating a post-COVID world?
It makes you better prepared for situations. Moving forward, you’ll be much better equipped in the real world. Being so far away from people makes you appreciative of working at an office and having in-person conversations with co-workers. Also, I learned to appreciate time management skills. As a freelancer during the pandemic, I spent most of my time working from my bed or my room. I needed to find ways to motivate myself to get things done. Furthermore, I reached out to so many people and different companies. Even if they do not amount to the job I would like, it is still people that I was able to network with and learn from. It was such a chaotic time that now I’ve learned to appreciate the skills I’ve adapted from the pandemic.
What are your future plans as a graduate student in Boston University?
The application process was also different. For example, I took the GRE for the first time before the pandemic, and I was preparing to take it again. However, with the pandemic, the testing sites were shut down, and people couldn’t go and sit to take the exam. Eventually, some schools didn’t require a GRE which was different, and the waiting process was very hard. Because of the pandemic, many graduate committees weren’t meeting, and decisions were very delayed.
I didn’t hear back from New York University until three days before decision day. Also, many universities did not have tours, so I was blindly choosing a school in the hopes that I would like it. I applied to five different schools, and I was between BU and Denver, which was a tough choice. I did go to the Denver campus, which was nice, but I felt like I was blindly making decisions. There really are no bad choices, and I am so excited to attend BU.
In the moment, though, it was very stressful because nothing else in life was happening, and this graduate decision felt so heavy. Once I made the decision to attend Boston University, it felt like a breath of fresh air, and I knew where I was going.
The program at BU is advertising but specifically, creative direction. I will probably be doing a lot of video editing and project management. I have a background in video editing, so it seems like a great fit. I will also be able to work in London through BU, so there’s a lot of exciting things happening. It makes me feel really good with my decision. Moving forward, I am thinking about getting my Ph.D. or setting up and working for a production company. Both of those sound really good, but I still don’t know what I want to do yet besides graduate school.
Q&A with Samantha Crawford
How has life been different after graduating from Florida State University in 2020?
One way that my life has been different after graduating from Florida State University is that I have new opportunities that only opened because FSU directly or indirectly prepared me for them. One example includes my job working as a proofreader in bill drafting for the Florida Senate in [the 2021] legislative session. Through a recommendation by one of my professors, I applied and was able to use various skills that I learned from the English department to help make sure that the bills heard in the legislature and passed were in the proper grammatical and structural format.
What was it like to return to FSU for graduation in 2021?
Returning to FSU for graduation was nothing short of a thrilling experience. Being able to walk across the Tucker Civic Center along with my peers really gave me a satisfying conclusion to my tenure at FSU. The University gave me so much throughout my undergraduate career that the graduation itself felt like I was returning home.
What advice can you give to students who graduated in Fall 2020 and Spring 2021 and are also navigating a post-COVID world?
The best advice I can give students who graduated in Fall 2020 and Spring 2021 and are also navigating a post-COVID world is to give yourself grace. It would not be understatement to say that COVID was an apocalyptic moment, whose remnants exist in the present. While the prospect of following your post-graduate ambitions is important, I would argue that allowing yourself to rest and heal is what will serve you best in the long run.
What are your future plans as a graduate student?
My plans as a graduate student include returning to FSU to pursue a Master of Arts in Literature, Media, and Culture. Click here to read about Samantha's time with the Javacya Arts Conservatory.
Q&A with Andrea Pelaez
How has life been different after graduating from Florida State University in 2020?
Life after graduating Florida State University has been an adjustment, especially navigating this new chapter of my life in the middle of a pandemic. After I graduated, I was at a loss for what to prepare for next. I had been in school my entire life preparing for the day I would earn a bachelor's degree. So, now what? After graduation, I was still unsure about what I wanted to do next and what career path I wanted, so I decided to take a gap year to explore my options and wait out the worst of the pandemic. Taking a gap year was one of the best decisions I have ever made.
What was it like to return to FSU for graduation in 2021?
Returning to FSU for graduation in 2021 was like a reunion. Few people can say that they returned to their alma mater to be reunited with their friends exactly one year after graduation. In fact, if it had not been for this “re-graduation” as I like to call it, it might have been years before I could see my fellow Noles again. As soon as I stepped foot on campus, it felt like I was returning home. It was like I had never left. I am very grateful that Florida State University gave us the opportunity to celebrate our achievements, hear our names get called, and walk across that stage. It will be a moment I will never forget.
What advice can you give to students who graduated in Fall 2020 and Spring 2021 and are also navigating a post-COVID world?
Some of the best advice I can give to a new graduate navigating our post-COVID world would be to simply be generous with yourself. It's okay not to have everything figured out, especially while navigating a global pandemic. This past year has been full of surprises and disturbances to everyday life. Take some time for yourself and figure out what's going to make you happy. If it's travelling, do it. If it's grad school, do it. If it's taking a gap year, do it. If it's moving to a new place and exploring, do it! Now is the time. You have the rest of your life to work. This is the time you owe to yourself, especially after the many years of hard work you have dedicated to getting a college degree.
What are your future plans as a graduate student?
Deciding what graduate program to dedicate your time and energy to can be a daunting thought, especially when there are so many different concentrations to choose from. My best advice would be to do your research into any program that piques your interest and make a pros and cons list. Choosing the right program for you is so important and it's okay if it takes you a little longer to figure out what's best.
Sofia Cabrera is an English major, on the literature, media, and culture track, with a minor in education.
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