Bachelor of Business graduates pictured at the gathering hosted by the TUS students' union in Athlone last Saturday. Back Row: Carmel Keane, Reda Straupaite-Noreike, Niall Claffey, Geraldine Rowan, Ellen Egan, Lynsey Gavin, Christine Conway. Middle: Valerie Jameson, Aoife Mannion. Front: TUS Students' Union officers Niall Naughton (President), Darcy Lawless (VP for Education), Saoirse Mulvihill (VP for Welfare) and Kevin Pakenham (Deputy President for the Midlands).

TUS students' union holds celebration for online graduates

On Saturday last, the students' union at TUS in Athlone held an on-campus celebration for students who had graduated earlier this month with online, rather than in-person, conferring ceremonies.

The Department of Lifelong Learning at TUS held its graduation and conferring of awards ceremonies for all of its special purpose awards, level 6, and level 7 awards, in an online format at the start of November.

This meant that around 650 Department of Lifelong Learning students had virtual graduations, with some 180 students from the department graduating in person.

One of the students who went back to education said there had been a feeling of disappointment among many of her classmates when they learned that their graduation would be online.

"People were looking forward to having their day and wearing their gown - it's a big push to get through it to the end," she said.

The event hosted by the students' union last Saturday saw some of the graduates don their graduation gowns for a ceremony that was followed by refreshments and photos.