Almost halfway through the second semester of the 2024-25 academic year, there haven’t been any celebratory events for the St. Thomas University graduating class.
St. Thomas University’s Student Union (STUSU) announced the president of the 2025 grad class, Taylor Watson, on their Instagram page in March of 2024.
Although there is a STU grad class 2025 Instagram page that was created in July, they haven’t made a post all year. With the lack of grad class events for graduates and radio silence on the Instagram page, some students feel left in the dark.
“You want to celebrate your accomplishments and it just feels like they’re like, ‘Okay, thanks for the money, goodbye,’” said fourth-year student Kayla Curran.
Aside from an email on Feb. 7 from student notices stating the University is working with the grad class president to “begin the countdown of events,” there has been no communication from STUSU’s grad class president otherwise.
“With Welcome Week being so big, meeting all those people in the first week of classes was really important for that introduction to STU. And it kind of feels a bit underwhelming to not also have events similar to Welcome Week going out of university.”
Since September, there have been no events held by STUSU specifically for graduating students, which is fewer events than last year’s similarly late start.
In the 2023-24 school year, grad class events started in February, which some students had an issue with, but the 2024 grad class Instagram page was active, sharing important information about graduation deadlines, grad photos and grad class merch.
Related: STU’s first grad class event… in February?
Along with the lack of grad events, Curran said she’s found it difficult to navigate the necessary steps to graduation.
“It is a bit frustrating how there wasn’t really a confirmation email once we sent in our application [to graduate],” she said. “Even sending my degree audit, they’re like, ‘I’ll let you know if there are any issues.’ And then I never heard back. So I’m like, ‘Am I graduating?’”
Upon following up with an academic advisor, Curran was informed she would be graduating on time, though she said that more communication from the grad class president and the grad class Instagram account would be helpful for students with similar confusion around graduation.
“[I’d like to see] the Instagram page being more active … just to get more information out there,” said Curran. “Even just acknowledging, ‘I know there hasn’t been any events yet, but more is to come.’”
Karlie Curtis is another grad who finished high school during COVID-19 lockdowns, as many students graduating this year experienced. Curtis also expressed disappointment at the lack of grad events this year.
“A lot of the things we looked forward to during those years did not happen,” said Curtis. “And then a lot of us were told university graduation would be [a time where] you’ll be able to celebrate and do things with your grad class, but now [we’re] kind of having a repeat.”
Curtis said that she would like to see more initiative from those planning the graduation events, as well as more transparency and information about who they are.
“You make a lot of friends while you’re here, from all different places. And while you’ve been making lifelong connections, you might not be able to see each other as often as we do throughout these four years,” said Curtis.
”Some of us live together and spend a lot of time on campus together, so after graduation, some of these connections are a little more distant. So to be able to have time and events to actually spend together before we head off, I think is important.”
The Aquinian reached out to the STUSU grad class president and they did not respond to repeated requests for comment or interview.
