HPU holds 3 commencement ceremonies

May 4—HIGH POINT — The weather dampened the conditions and changed the setting for High Point University's commencement on Saturday but didn't drench the spirit of the occasion for a graduating class that emerged from the coronavirus pandemic.

Steady rain and the threat of lightning compelled HPU leaders to move the class of 2024 graduation ceremony into the Nido and Mariana Qubein Arena and Conference Center. Traditionally commencement takes place outdoors on the grounds in front of Roberts Hall.

Because the arena is not large enough to hold all of the graduates and their families and friends, two ceremonies were held, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.

Also, the university's growth compelled HPU this year to split commencement celebrations between undergraduate and graduate classes for the first time in the school's 100-year history. Graduate students received their diplomas on Thursday during a ceremony at the arena.

The theme of the Friday celebrations focused on what HPU President Nido Qubein called the "COVID class," students who arrived as freshmen in August 2020 as the university followed protocols designed to allow the school to stay open for in-person classes months before the first vaccines were distributed. Many colleges at the time had only remote classes.

"Today is a special day in your lives and the lives of your families," Qubein told the audience that filled the more than 4,000-seat arena for the morning commencement.

Qubein said he became particularly close with the members of the class of 2024 because of the situation they faced when they arrived on campus for their first classes. To honor their accomplishments, the university will place a marker at a plaza on campus bearing all the names of the 2024 graduates.

Class President Braeden Boyle of Baltimore started his remarks by asking everyone in the class who missed high school graduation because of COVID-19 to raise their hands. Virtually all of them did.

"Welcome to what may be your first graduation ever," Boyle said.

Commencement keynote speaker Glenn Stearns, a businessman, entrepreneur and star of Discovery Channel's "Undercover Billionaire," told the graduates that having coped with COVID-19 during college has prepared them for the ups and downs of life.

"You are the class of resilience," said Stearns, who has fought two battles with cancer. "Use adversity as a fuel to achieve."

Stearns said he has both gained and lost fortunes during his long career in lending. But he said he would take that experience over "staying safe in the middle," where nothing is lost but also nothing of import is gained.

HPU hosted more than 14,000 visitors this week for commencement. The local tourism promotion agency Visit High Point estimates the economic impact of commencement is $4.55 million.

At Thursday's ceremony, Vincent Price, the president of Duke University, addressed the nearly 400 graduate students earning their degrees.

"You will walk out into a world of incredible change, a world in flux," Price said. "My message to you today is this: Yes, you are entering a world of rapid and chaotic change. It may be turbulent and disorienting, but it need not be feared. Change can be powerfully positive rather than negative should you choose to understand it and influence it."

More than 1,400 degrees were conferred during the spring graduate and undergraduate ceremonies. A total of 1,537 degrees have been conferred throughout the 2023-24 academic year, including across all HPU graduate programs, on varying schedules and at December commencement.

The class of 2024 offers some compelling personal journeys. They include:

—Annie Borovkiy, who's from a Philadelphia suburb. She is the daughter of parents who came to the United States from Ukraine in the 1990s. She graduated with a sports management degree and will start working with the National Basketball Association's Brooklyn Nets.

—Kellie Brewer and Piper Dillon, the first graduates of HPU's new Bachelor of Science in Nursing program. After graduation, Brewer will start a nursing residency at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist High Point Medical Center while Dillon will begin a critical care nursing residency with Novant Health.