Congrats, Baylor Classes of 2020 & 2021!
After a year of limited in-person events (including postponed May, August and December 2020 Commencement ceremonies), it was especially joyous to be able to gather together this weekend and celebrate both the Classes of 2020 and 2021 with graduation ceremonies at McLane Stadium!
A beautiful day for Commencement — congrats to each & every #BaylorGrad! 🐻🎓 pic.twitter.com/FrXzlcOktd
— Baylor University (@Baylor) May 6, 2021
More than 3,600 combined graduates crossed the stage during six ceremonies Thursday through Saturday. With graduates socially distanced (and faculty/staff on stage already fully vaccinated), the ceremonies were held outdoors at McLane — Baylor’s first outdoor Commencement since 1955 at Floyd Casey Stadium (then just five years old and known simply as Baylor Stadium).
If you missed the ceremonies — or you just want to watch them again — they’re each archived on both the Baylor Facebook page and at baylor.edu/commencement. You can also see photos from the Class of 2020’s ceremonies and the Class of 2021’s ceremonies via Facebook.
With 3,600+ graduates here from #BU20 & #BU21 — and the first #BaylorGrad ceremony ever at McLane — this is clearly a historic weekend.
So how else to celebrate but with an equally rare Presidential selfie? 🎓💚💛 pic.twitter.com/fF0QzksDC6
— Baylor University (@Baylor) May 6, 2021
As a proud Baylor graduate who walked across that same stage many years ago, the best piece of advice I can give you is this: Stay in touch. Update your alumni contact information so that wherever your future takes you, you’ll know what’s going on with your alma mater and can connect with fellow grads. If you don’t already, follow Baylor on social media to watch how your alma mater grows and develops.
And finally, even as your friends scatter all over the world, make an effort to get together on a regular basis. Maybe that’s for Baylor Homecoming, a group vacation, or just weekly game night — but keep those friendships going. College is a special time, and you likely won’t ever again have this much time available to build such deep friendships.
Best of luck, new Baylor graduates. Or, as we Bears say:
Sic ’em, Bears!
Bonus: Class of 2021 grads Lilly Russell and Eduardo Cavazos took us inside their final weeks as Baylor seniors, as they reminisced about their Baylor experiences, and then inside the Commencement ceremony itself: