\u201cThe three of us lived in different residence halls and apartments, were involved in different clubs, and had different majors,\u201d Annemarie Kearns says. “Moving back home [to Scotch Plains, New Jersey] allowed us to spend more time together. It\u2019s been nice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Annemarie was a double major in political science<\/a> and business<\/a>, Nolan majored in microbiology<\/a>, and Max majored in chemical engineering<\/a>. Friday, they watched the University\u2019s online conferral of degrees for the Class of 2020<\/a> with their parents.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause our department ceremonies overlapped, the recorded ceremonies turned out to be the only way our parents could see all three of them,\u201d AnneMarie says. \u201cTo celebrate, we decorated our back yard, will have a barbecue, FaceTime relatives and friends and, of course, eat some cake.\u201d<\/p>\n The University went to distance learning in late March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and Friday it celebrated nearly 4,000 students with online conferrals of degrees in bachelors, master\u2019s, and doctoral programs.<\/p>\n As senior class council president, Rachel Goodman \u201920 had anticipated giving a commencement speech before hundreds of students, parents, and members of the University community on the Eastman Quadrangle. Three weeks ago, she put on a white dress and recorded her speech in the dining room of her parents\u2019 home in Needham, Massachusetts.<\/p>\n NEEDHAM, MASSACHUSETTS<\/strong> Rachel Goodman ’20, double major in health, behavior and society and psychology, celebrates the degree conferrals from her parents\u2019 home. Rachel has been the class council president all four years and was set to deliver a speech at commencement Sunday. She taped one instead a few weeks ago. From left, her brother Matthew, father Ken, and mom Elyse, with dog Pepper.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cNot doing it in person was certainly disappointing, but I am so grateful I could share some words with my class virtually,\u201d says Goodman, who completed majors in health, behavior and society as well as psychology. \u201cRecording at home had its advantages: I got to wear pajama pants and had unlimited attempts to tape it, which made for a pretty entertaining blooper reel.\u201d<\/p>\n Goodman said she was nervous about \u201cgraduating from home,\u201d but her family made it a special day. \u201cMy brother came home from New York to celebrate with us, and he and my parents decorated the house with balloons and banners,\u201d she says. \u201cThey baked my favorite sweets, did a champagne toast, and cheered me on as we watched my virtual speech in our living room. There were a lot of tears, happy and sad. I\u2019m so grateful we got to spend this day together.\u201d<\/p>\n Jamal Holtz \u201920 graduated with the self-designed social justice and public policy major<\/a> and served as Students\u2019 Association<\/a> president in the 2019\u201320 academic year. Friday, he watched University president Sarah Mangelsdorf\u2019s online address<\/a> to all graduates and the conferral of degrees with family and friends. His mother, Yvonne Holtz, was working in Glasgow, Virginia, but joined the family via Zoom.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s definitely not what I expected commencement to be,\u201d Holtz says, \u201cbut nothing can take away what you worked for these four years. I was still emotional watching the conferral of degrees.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n WASHINGTON, D.C.<\/strong> Jamal Holtz \u201920, social justice and public policy major and 2019-20 Students\u2019 Association president, celebrates from his brother\u2019s home. His mom had to work in Virginia, so she watched the conferral with everyone via Zoom. From left to right: Thennie Freeman (godmother), Andrea Holtz (sister), Phillip Walker (mentor), Yvonne Holtz, mother (on Zoom), Lauryn Renford (girlfriend), Kemry Hughes (mentor), and Markus Batchelor (brother and mentor).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Holtz has begun a job as assistant to the president at LINK Strategic Partners, a communications and stakeholder engagement firm in Washington. He says his biggest takeaway from his Rochester years is \u201cthe opportunity to build community and family. That will be part of my life forever.\u201d<\/p>\n Makana Medeiros \u201920E graduated from the Eastman School of Music<\/a> with a degree in percussion performance<\/a>. He celebrated Friday by watching the conferral with his parents and younger brother at home in Fredericksburg, Virginia.<\/p>\n \u201cThe hardest part about leaving school was the recitals and concerts that were canceled,\u201d he says. \u201cAll the time and energy preparing for these events was met with no performance. But I can still look back at all the concerts, rehearsals, master classes, lessons\u2014and even the online Zoom meetings\u2014to prove how much the Eastman community supported and cared about me.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n FREDERICKSBURG, VIRGINIA<\/strong> Makana Medeiros \u201920E celebrates receiving his degree from the Eastman School of Music with his younger brother Lanakila, left, and his parents Bruce and Wendy, middle and right.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Medeiros is the fourth of five children to Bruce and Wendy Medeiros, and the first to receive a bachelor\u2019s degree. He\u2019s headed to the Manhattan School of Music in New York City, where he will pursue his master\u2019s degree in contemporary performance.<\/p>\n \u201cI will never forget all the inspiration to strive to be a better leader and musician that came from my Eastman education,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Chris Goodwin and his wife, Sierra Fox, received their doctoral degrees in biochemistry from the School of Medicine. They met at the University years ago and both received master\u2019s degrees in 2016. They celebrate Friday at their home in Palmyra, New Jersey. \u201cGoing from grad school into quarantine has been very weird,\u201d Goodwin says.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n PALMYRA, NEW JERSEY:<\/strong> New biochemistry doctoral graduates Chris Goodwin and Sierra Fox celebrate at home.<\/p>\n They celebrated by baking cinnamon buns and eating them while they watched the online commencement videos and the School of Medicine and Dentistry biochemistry and biophysics department virtual award ceremony. \u201cWe had a \u2018Sierra and Chris\u2019 banner left over from our post-thesis defense party months ago and hung that up behind us for a more festive atmosphere,\u201d Goodwin says.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Annemarie Kearns summed up the feelings of hundreds of new University of Rochester graduates: \u201cThe past few weeks do not define the incredible life-long friendships, unique experiences, and unforgettable memories\u00a0made over the last four years. We cannot wait to join the alumni community and see all the amazing things the Class of 2020 will do, and we look forward to the day we can all be back on campus to celebrate in\u00a0person.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n For the last four years, Jamal Holtz \u201920 has called Rochester his home, and from the moment he set foot on campus, he knew he wanted to make an impact here.<\/p>\n “I always said, when I step onto any community,” says Holtz, who was elected to serve as Students\u2019 Association president in his senior year. “I make it a community that I live in, not a community that I just come for four years and leave.”<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/2020-Degrees-Conferred-1.jpg\")
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