MEDICINE HAT, AB – Medicine Hat College graduates will not get the convocation they had hoped for.
Due to provincial restrictions, students will celebrate virtually this week over social media.
This Friday, June 11 would have been the traditional day where students walk across the stage.
MHC had planned to host another drive-thru event like last year.
But the college says while the provincial update on May 26 outlined a timeline to ease current restrictions, that did not permit outdoor gatherings at the time.
President & CEO Kevin Shufflebotham says they had multiple scenarios on how they could celebrate.
“This year we kept following the guidelines, kept looking at the restrictions as they changed. And like I said, we pivoted a lot of times, we had many different plans and we were actually hoping to have a drive-thru but when the current restrictions came out we realized that we couldn’t, we just had to make a decision and move forward,” Shufflebotham said.
Amber Kornelson was the recipient of the Student of the Year award. She is a recent graduate of the Mount Royal University collaborative Bachelor of Education program at MHC.
Kornelson says as restrictions ease, she plans to find a way to celebrate convocation with friends and family.
“It is really disappointing but at the same time just the way the restrictions have been and the uncertainty of everything I think is just really hard to plan a convocation in this season of life and in the midst of a pandemic where things are rapidly changing, so I guess we just have to roll with it,” Kornelson added.
Student’s parchment, grad cap, and tassel will be shipped to their mailing address.
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