From 9 a.m. on Friday to 7 p.m. on May 10 and 11, more than 4,100 students walked across the stage in the Holmes Convocation Center to receive their diplomas, and put a bow on the 2023-24 academic year for App State.
Partly cloudy skies and cool breezes complimented the sea of black caps and gowns channeling into Rivers Street as each commencement ended By midday, Boone was an eclectic mix of Regalia, grandparents and champagne, excellently managed by the Appalachian ELITE Team.
However, no graduation experience is universal. Not everyone graduates in the spring, many don’t do it in four years, some still have classes to go, some transferred in, some paid for their degrees out of their pockets, some didn’t. Some join a family lineage of alumni, some are the first of theirs in a cap and gown, some did it online while working a job, some are surrounded by support from their families and some stand alone, triumphant in their independent achievement.
But graduation connects many, no matter the path, and reminds people to be proud and to do it together. Unique to this class, for students who graduated high school in 2020, this was the first graduation that included shaking hands, walking across stages and getting to hug each other, at any point. Regardless of whether you know those in the seats next to you, you all look at each other with excited grins and exchange congrats, eager to move your tassels, because, at that moment, nothing else matters.
