College congratulates graduates with special swag
By Atiba Nelson, Staff Reporter
What’s better than receiving your college degree? Having the issuing institution send your degree and an assortment of party favors for you to celebrate.
In June, Douglas mailed graduating students their respective degree parchments and several souvenirs to allow graduates to celebrate their achievement in lieu of the usual convocation ceremonies that were cancelled due to the pandemic. Douglas announced that degrees would be mailed to graduating students on the COVID-19 update webpage. Weeks later the college unveiled that degrees would be mailed in a special box via the @douglascollege Twitter account.
“Hey June 2020 grads! Sorry you’re missing out on convocation this year. But we’ve got something special to help you celebrate your accomplishments from home. Keep an eye out for one of these boxes in the mail!”
“The idea was a collaboration between the Registrar’s Office and the Marketing and Communications Office, with both areas working to figure out how to help students celebrate graduation in the absence of a physical convocation,” said Regan Lal, Associate Director of Communications in the Marketing & Communications Office at Douglas College, via an emailed statement.
Douglas confirmed that each box contained the graduate’s individual Douglas College credential, a card from the college president and the dean of each graduates’ faculty, a card from the Alumni Association and an alumni pin, black and gold balloons, silver, gold, and black confetti, a ‘grad 2020’ celebration banner, and a package of Douglas College 50th anniversary chocolates. Finally, as a keepsake, the college included a graduation cap with a 2020 tassel.
“Every student that was qualified to graduate and applied by the college’s deadline was mailed a box. This includes our new alumni in the United States and abroad,” said Lal. According to the college, the graduation box initiative cost less than the traditional series of graduation ceremonies honouring new graduates, and all boxes have been shipped to the 1510 students who graduated from Douglas this summer.
