Longwood’s 176th Undergraduate Commencement Ceremony has been set for May 9 on Wheeler Lawn. The University is still unsure of what the neighboring Upchurch University Center will look like at the time.
The construction site, which was previously the home of the Cunningham Residence Halls, sits right next-door to where the ceremony will take place. As it stands now, the site consists of a giant mound of dirt, that is surrounded by a chain-link fence. The brick wall that family and friends typically sit on during the ceremony is gone, and the trees have been torn down as well.
Some students fear that the construction site will be an eyesore, and that this could put a damper on their graduation day. However, the university has come up with several solutions that could possibly put people’s worries to rest.
Last Friday, Vice President of Student Affairs Dr. Tim Pierson sent out a school-wide email asking students to submit their best photos in an effort to turn the chain-link fence into a giant mural. Special Assistant to the President for Academic Ceremonies Brenda Ferguson spoke about the project, saying that they envision “traditional type things of Longwood, which will give it a really nice feel.”
Graduating senior Nicholas Carrara spoke about his thoughts on the mural project, noting that it was a good way of hiding the eyesore. “I think that it’s a really creative way to make it look better, and give the seniors something that they can personalize for their
graduation. If it’s not going to be as beautiful as it usually is, they might as well make it more about them,” he said.
Another issue that Carrara mentioned was the connection that many of the graduating seniors had with the Cunninghams, and how walking past the barren site may affect them on graduation day.
Ferguson said she faced a similar situation 14 years ago, when Longwood’s symbolic Rotunda burned down less than a month before commencement. She said that the students were given the option of whether or not to walk past the rubble on their way to the ceremony. “They chose they wanted to walk past it, and if you talk to those graduates now they say it was truly touching. The students made the choice, and they marched right on by it, because that was a part of who they were,” Ferguson said.
According to the Longwood University website, construction of the new Upchurch University Center is expected to last through 2017. Therefore, this year’s graduating class will not be the only ones to march past the blemish on commencement day.
“No matter what, it’s a construction site. We’re going to make it work, and it will be special for everybody,” said Chief of Staff Justin Pope. Ferguson and Pope both hope that students will see the construction site as a sign of progress on the university’s campus. Pope said, “You know graduation in the coming years is going to be spectacular with that building there, and it will be really nice.”
