How to Celebrate Graduation Virtually

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect our ability to get together in large groups, there’s been one unique challenge recent graduates have had to face: how do you celebrate graduation virtually?

It’s a challenge that’s unique for these times. How exactly are you supposed to celebrate graduation virtually and safely?

Thanks to a combination of technology and creativity, it’s possible to make sure you have a memorable celebration of your achievements. We’re here to offer up some fun ideas on how to celebrate your successes while keeping everyone safe and socially distant. Let’s get started!

Social Media

Everyone loves to celebrate notable achievements on social media. Here are a few ways to generate excitement about your graduation:

• Facebook Frames
  • Did you know that Facebook gives you the ability to use frames in your profile pics? Herzing has set up special Herzing-themed frames for you to spread the word about your achievements!
• Post to Your Accounts
  • Simply posting on your accounts is a great way to celebrate! You can make posts about achieving your dreams, share pictures of you in scrubs/grad gowns and more! You can tag family members so they can wish you a warm congratulations as well.
     
    If you share your pics, we at Herzing University love to see them. Be sure to either tag our social media accounts or DM your pictures to us. We may even feature you in a future post!
• Virtual Commencement
  • Make sure your family, friends and loved ones watch the virtual commencement ceremonies being streamed live on the Herzing Facebook pages. You can even send the link to all your family members once we start streaming. You don't need an account to watch!
     
    During the ceremony, you can chat live with us and celebrate with your fellow students in the comments. We’ll have class speakers, guest speakers and everything a traditional ceremony would have, just provided in a virtual format. 
• Stories & Stickers
  • If you’ve kept up with social media lately, you’d know that stories are important. What originally started on Snapchat now extends to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram and likely more platforms as the idea continues to spread.
     
    Whether you’re planning out your celebration or actively celebrating, pull out your phone and take some stories! Show off how you’re celebrating, the process, share the celebrations and more. This is your graduation, so share it with the world so everyone can see how much fun you’re having!

 Don’t forget: Herzing has special stickers linked through GIPHY on stories. Be sure to find and utilize them by searching “Herzing University” to jazz up your stories even further!

Crafts

One of the best ways to start celebrating your graduation from a distance is to get crafty! Here are some fun ideas you can use as a starting point.

• Yard signs
  • Put together a custom yard sign to celebrate your graduation! For example, if you’re a nurse, you could theme it after nursing, if you’re legal studies, theme it after that. The best part of making your yard sign instead of buying a premade one is that you can customize it however you want!
• Decorate caps
  • For those of you with grad caps, take some time to customize and decorate it to celebrate! You may not be able to go to an in-person ceremony, but you can take pictures of the cap to share, wear to a graduation photoshoot and tag us to show them off.
     
    This is an easy way to create a wonderful keepsake and memory of your experiences at Herzing. 
• Do a Photoshoot
  • This may not be a traditionally crafty event, but you could easily turn it into one!
     
    Set up a photoshoot space with a bunch of items and decorations you put together. This could be at a local park, in the city or even just in your backyard. You can build your fun photo venue, then either hire a photographer or simply have someone take pictures with a smartphone.
     
    This is a fun, easy way to celebrate your graduation with loved ones, and you’ll be sure to remember it for quite some time to come since you did it all yourself! Just like everything else, you can always tag us on social media. It may be featured in a future post with your permission!

Celebrate at a Distance!

Just because everything should be done safely and at a distance doesn’t mean you can’t have small, personal ceremonies with your loved ones. Here are some ideas on how to achieve that:

• Do a Backyard Walk
  • Once you ensure everyone is safe and able to follow social distancing, you can have your own backyard ceremony! Set up enough chairs for everyone while staying six feet apart, get a speaker to play graduation-themed music and have everyone in attendance take turns speaking like you would during a traditional ceremony. It would truly be personal a celebration to remember. 
• Celebrate Via Video Call
  • Whether you’re celebrating via FaceTime, Skype, Discord or any of the other video chatting software out there, you can easily use this to set up a completely virtual ceremony!
     
    For the extra cautious people, this is perfect! Invite all your friends and family to celebrate in a fun virtual meet-up for graduation. You can stream a mock ceremony as you would for the backyard walk, or simply use the time to meet up with your family and friends to chat!
• Project our Virtual Commencement Ceremony
  • Why not rent or purchase some projection equipment to stream our commencement ceremony on? You could even simply cast from your phone to a big TV and have family over to watch the ceremony with you.
     
    As long as you keep numbers small and make sure everyone is safe, you can have an intimate ceremony with your family and friends while celebrating with your classmates via our virtual commencement ceremony. This way you get the best of both worlds.

This may be just a handful of ideas, but there are so many unique and creative ways to celebrate commencement at a distance during these crazy times. Whatever you choose to do, be sure to stay safe, stay distant and stay #HUPossible!

From those of us at Herzing, congrats to all our new graduates!