Earlier this year CWU announced that graduation will be virtual for the second year in a row. This sparked the idea of a smaller commencement ceremony.

Associate professor, Dr. Joshua Nelson-Ichido, speaks about the beginning process of developing an in-person commencement. With no in-person commencement this year, that leaves seniors missing out on the traditional graduation they have been working for.

This sparked the leaders of LambdaPi Eta to start developing a plan for a small communication major commencement.

“Right now we are gathering data, I sent out a poll to graduating seniors from the department to see who is interested in this,” Nelson-Ichido said. “As of right now we got about 20 people who are interested in participating.” 

Chava Godinez, senior communications major, who has taken the survey, weighs in on how important an in-person commencement will be for him.  

“For me, it’s very important actually. I’ve been working up for this for years now. I was upset for the people last year because they didn’t get a commencement. And I was hoping by this time we would have in person commencement,” Godinez said. 

Nelson-Ichido said he along with other faculty members within the communications department even realize the let down of virtual commencements.

“Commencement was cancelled last year and they just had a video going and they just read off your name, it just doesn’t feel as though you are really being recognized for what you’ve completed,” Nelson-Ichido said. 

The next steps in the early stages of the commencement are still being mapped out by Lambda Pi Eta members. The president, vice president and chapter senator did not want to make comments on this process due to being in the early stages. 

“We will definitely be erroring on the side of cautious, and taking the steps that we can, logistically for the small group [on] what we can do,” Nelson-Ichido said. “Be cautious and safe as possible, like wearing masks, having hand sanitizers and making sure distancing is actively engaged throughout the entire process.”

As graduation approaches, more information of a small in-person commencement will be provided.