As the pandemic upended commencement rituals across campuses, Kim Gaddie wanted to give the University of Oklahoma’s class of 2020 a taste of tradition -- well, kinda.
In this May 8, 2020 photo, Kim Gaddie, an Associate Senior Fellow at Headington College, takes a selfie photo of herself with a long list of University of Oklahoma graduate names written on the sidewalk outside of the Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Okla.. Gaddie and several staff members spent hours writing more than 4,000 names of the 2020 graduates who were unable to have their in-person commencement ceremony due to COVID-19.
“I was thinking to myself, ‘Wow, they’re not going to get a chance to do that, another tradition that won’t get to be fulfilled after four years of hard work,’” said Gaddie, associate senior fellow at the university’s Headington College. “It was just a small gesture that we felt like we could do for them to say, ‘Hey, we’re thinking about you. We care about you. We know this is important.’”
For the Gaddies, the gesture was personal in more ways than one. They have known some of the graduating seniors for years “like our family,” said Keith Gaddie, President’s Associates Presidential Professor at the university and senior fellow of Headington College.Then, there was their actual family: Their daughter was one of those graduating that day in a virtual ceremony. When she found out what her parents had done, “she was really impressed,” Kim Gaddie said.
Another graduate, Lauren Hansen, said the gesture made “my whole year.” She lives near campus so, on Twitter, she offered to take and send photos to those who ask. More than 30 people -- friends and strangers, graduates and parents -- took her up on the offer, she said.
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