College graduation looks very different in 2021 compared to years past. With multiple online commencements and graduation celebrations over Zoom, a day that is normally filled with friends, family, group photos and crowds of graduates throwing their caps into the air, is reduced to a screen on our laptop. Students have adapted their style in a variety of ways due to their unique graduation experience.
Madeleine Janz
Madeleine Janz, a Journalism + Design student at Lang who is graduating after three years, doesn’t plan to let the virtual ceremony damper her fashion.
“I am going full out for my Zoom graduation outfit,” Janz said
For graduation, she will be wearing a sleeveless, ivory white gown from Rent the Runway with thin straps and a high slit on one side. It is something similar to what she would have worn if it was in person. “Why not use this as [an] opportunity to wear something kind of fun?” Janz said.
She will be wearing heels, which she would have worn in person, even though they are painful. “I tend to be more dramatic. I’ll take the pain to get the pleasure of wearing the shoes.”
Janz does not always get dressed up for her Zoom classes, as her mood dictates her outfit. “But getting dressed up tends to make me feel better.”
During her interview with the Free Press, Janz wore a white puffy-sleeved dress with a beaded necklace that she had made herself.
As a Journalism + Design student, she attended a Zoom graduation celebration that she helped to co-organize for everyone in their major. Students, faculty, staff, and parents from the program celebrated together with student speakers, program directors, and concluded with a reading of student names. Janz shared her capstone project as it is something she is very proud of. “We shared memories and fun things that we’ve done in the program. And then just listen[ed] to music, corny, High School Musical, graduation songs. But it was fun. We just wanted something for ourselves, because we’ve been such a community over the past four years that we wanted to just celebrate that together.”
Although her parents attended the J + D event over Zoom, they will join her in person at her apartment in New York for the actual Zoom graduation so they can all watch together. Janz also plans to walk to Washington Square Park after the celebration and take photographs by the fountain while safely meeting up with her friends. Later in the day, she will dine at a restaurant of her choice to celebrate.
Janz said that her mother is very excited about the day and has helped Janz pick out her dress. It was fun for her to shop with her mom and pick something luxurious. “I mean, I think also because it is virtual, I want to make it feel even more special.” She said.
This summer Janz is completing a fellowship with the American Society of magazine editors and they will place her at a specific magazine to work at for the summer. Next year she will be completing her master’s in Creative Publishing and Critical Journalism in one year, after taking many credits during her bachelor’s degree. Long term she is interested in working at a magazine, editing and writing long-form journalism.
Her advice for New School students is, “to connect, use every single minute of it.” Janz said she made connections and relationships with her professors and they have been invaluable. Getting advice, learning about career opportunities, and just making her New School experience so special.
“So you just have to do it,” Janz said.” You have to join the clubs, you have to start events, you have to talk to professors, you have to ask the person next to you to go to lunch, even though it’s incredibly awkward, and they could say no. It’s all [about] stepping out of your comfort zone and building community. You know, you just have to do it yourself.”
Tasja Dhraveen
Tasja Dhraveen, a drama student at COPA who focuses on playwriting and acting, is not planning on dressing up for graduation. Instead, she’s dressing up for the post-graduation celebrations.
“It’s so ingrained in my routine that a commencement on Zoom sort of feels like just a part of my everyday routine.” Drahveen said that her “real” graduation will be when she turns in her last final on Canvas.
“Submitting that last final will be like, “I just graduated!” That will feel like my graduation,” she said. “So yeah, really to graduate, I’ll probably be wearing my pajamas.”
Before the pandemic hit, Drahveen, who said she takes style inspiration from the 1960’s and 1970’s, envisioned her graduation as a grand event, wearing a new dress and curated outfit. “I totally saw myself going out and having a big celebration and dressing up in a dress and buying something specific for the occasion,” she said.
Since her parents won’t be coming to New York for graduation, she plans to celebrate with her friends and dress up for that celebration. Her outfit will be centered around a hand-made, baby pink corset lined with white beading that she recently bought from another student at The New School. “It’s weird to think about how my graduation will just be like another day, so I feel like I’ll probably wear something that makes me feel good,” Dhraveen said.
Like many first generation college graduates, for Drahveen, going to college and graduating was very important for her and her family. Before COVID-19 hit, she imagined the typical cap and gown commencement ceremony in a large event space surrounded by professors and peers. “So it’s definitely sad to let go of that,” she said.
Drahveen says that her post graduation plans will consist of working on a play with friends and “dramaturgical work,” auditioning for acting work, and submitting to play festivals.
Nicole Collazo Santana
With the end of the semester in full swing Nicole Collazo Santana, a fourth-year Journalism + Design student and former Free Press reporter, is incredibly excited for her next steps post-graduation. Her time at the New School will not end with graduation, as she is a part of the BAMA program and is returning for graduate school.
“Graduation looks a lot differently than I thought it would,” Collazo Santana said. “My whole family was going to come from Puerto Rico, we had planned it since my freshman year. We were going to go to baseball games, go out to eat, and just experience New York together. Luckily I have another graduation next year and hopefully they’ll be able to come.”
Even though her whole family is unable to attend the online festivities, Collazo Santana’s mother and grandmother will be making the trip to New York. “I’m so excited to see them,” says Collazo Santana “and thankfully my mom is bringing one of my grad dresses with her!”
Collazo Santana has three different graduation ceremonies, one for Journalism + Design, one for Eugene Lang College, and one for the entire undergraduate class of 2021. This means she needs three different outfits to go with each ceremony. “For the first one, I wore a little floral dress from Depop. The wrong size came but luckily it fit. Then for Lang grad, I am giving a speech and I’m wearing a pink A-line dress because I think pink and red go cute together and red’s the color of our cap and gowns. And for the main graduation I’m wearing the dress my mom’s bringing, it’s white and lacey. It’s more skin-tight”.
As for shoes, since all the ceremonies are taking place on Zoom, they are not necessary. However, Collazo Santana is taking full advantage of graduation and is accessorizing her outfits. “For the events, I am going to wear little heels, but since I live in New York I don’t have them with me because I don’t have it in me to wear them in the city. So my mom is actually going to bring them down with her!”
Even though there are no in-person celebrations being organized by the New School, Collazo Santana and her friends are going to go to Washington Square Park to take some photos and commemorate the moment.
While graduation looks a lot different than Collazo Santana thought it would, she is trying to make the best out of a sucky situation. “A Zoom graduation isn’t ideal and the outfit thing wouldn’t really matter to most people, but it definitely mattered to me!”
Marisa Herman
Graduate Marisa Herman, a fourth-year photography student at Parsons minoring in Literary Studies at Lang, is a bit up in the air about what she is going to wear to graduation, but knows she wants to dress up.
Lately, Herman said she has been gravitating towards the colors red, black, and purple and she is planning to find something in that color scheme. She went on to say that people typically wear white to graduation so she is considering wearing pops of colors in her jewelry and platform shoes.
She shares that she plans to wear something similar to what she would have worn if the graduation was in person since she is meeting her friends afterward. If graduation were in person she would wear less risky shoes, not a platform, but now that she has the opportunity to do so, so she will take it.
For Herman’s graduation day she is going to watch the Zoom event from her apartment in Queens with her parents. Afterward, she is going to meet up with her thesis class in Central Park to celebrate and take photographs safely.
Even though graduation is online, Herman said, “I’m not bothered by it as much as probably my parents are.”
Herman’s style is always evolving and changing and doesn’t feel that it was affected by Zoom. She likes to dress up and plans to do so for her graduation day. She said, “I’ve been looking for a new dress or a skirt from a thrift store but I haven’t found one yet. I think maybe when my mom comes.” This event is also something special to share with her mom, even though the graduation is online, as her parents are just as excited for this day as Herman.
Her friends and classmates have been organizing small hangouts outside, going to brunch, or meeting on Zoom to celebrate their soon-to-be graduation and each other.
After graduation, Herman wants to travel somewhere. “I think my mind is really fried after sitting in front of a computer for so long.” She said, “I would like to just apply to as many places as I can and see how that goes and submit to shows or art book publishers. Then maybe go to grad school. But in the meantime, I hope to go somewhere that’s not here for a while.” She wants to continue creating work “in a fine art context.”
Her advice for New School students includes just writing down all the artists that inspire you while in school and who you learn about in your courses. It will be helpful in the long run and when working on your thesis.
“I’m starting to feel like I wish I could just have it all on a hard drive,” Herman said. “Everything that I’ve learned in every syllabus.”
Katherine Huggins
Katherine Huggins said she doesn’t feel the need to get dressed up for the virtual graduation. However, like many graduates wearing clothes that make you feel good, Huggins will happily get dressed up to take photos and celebrate.
“If I’m on Zoom, I do not care how I look,” Huggins said. “I mean, literally right now, I was like, ‘Okay, we’re doing a Zoom interview. I’ll make my top nice.’ My bottoms? I’m in my pajama shorts. It doesn’t matter. That’s how it’s been all semester. That’s how it’s gonna be for graduation.”
Huggins, a 21-year-old Journalism + Design student at Lang, is graduating a year early because of a “combination of taking 17 or 18 credits every semester and a couple AP classes.” In the beginning of her third-year, Huggins realized that she could graduate early and went for it, undeterred by the fact that graduation will be a virtual event.
Huggins said that she remembered being attracted to the typical New School commencement because of the speakers who come to the graduation and the honorary degrees that are given out. This year’s graduation has lost its luster, Huggins said, adding that she doesn’t feel it is necessary to go but will attend the Zoom event because of her parents.
“One of the pros of having the virtual graduation is it’s a lot cheaper for me to go home than for my family to come out. So that’s what we’re doing. We’re just gonna celebrate me finishing college at home,” Huggins said, who is currently with her family in Sacramento, California.
Huggins plans to attend graduate school in Washington D.C., and she is certain that her graduation from graduate school will be in-person. “I’m excited about that. I don’t feel like I’m missing out on that much because I know if nothing else, I’ll have a graduation next year in person.”