Commencement ceremonies held for Georgia Southern graduates

STATESBORO, Ga. (WTOC) - Thousands of more students have now graduated from Georgia Southern University.

The university will bestow 2,100 degrees between the ceremony Saturday in Savannah and Monday and Tuesday in Statesboro.

University leaders praised students for the work they’ve put in for degrees ranging from four-year degree, a Masters, or a doctorate.

Georgia Southern’s president says they’ve done all they could over the last two years to balance safety from the pandemic and the academic training students deserve and need.

“We’ve focused on student success, first and foremost. For us, that was the progression of studies and now the culmination of graduation,” GSU President Dr. Kyle Marrero said.

Georgia Southern holds two commencement ceremonies per year. This one is traditionally smaller than the larger graduating class each spring.

These students certainly had a unique college experience during the pandemic.

“For my whole life, I’ve been looking forward to this moment. My mom and my dad went to Georgia Southern. To follow in their footsteps has been awesome,” GSU graduate Ansley White said.

These students graduate from a different university from the Georgia Southern they came to as freshman. The pandemic changed Southern, and the rest of the world.

“For what they have done to get here today, to finishing and commencement and getting their degree. They’ve gone through different types of curriculum and delivery,” Marrero said.

Some students they’re experience will be different from any generations before. But they also feel oddly more prepared to enter this world, having gotten their education in the middle of such unusual times.

“I guess classes in Zoom really adapted us a lot to say “hey, we can take on any task. We can do that,” GSU graduate Kallie Moore said.

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