Graduation Ceremony
There are moments in our lives in which no decision you take is the right one. Such was our decision to cancel the graduation ceremony in Prague. A week before the designated date of the ceremony we succeeded, thanks to favourable epidemic circumstances in the regions, in delivering the Diplomas to our happy graduates in Most and Karlovy Vary. However, the steeply-rising Covid-19 curve prevented us to do the same in Prague. As responsible organizers we needed to consider the health risks to our graduates and their families as well as to our employees. Particularly that aspect and our duty to arrange properly the learning process in Winter Semester prevailed in our decision-making. With heavy hearts we wrote emails to our graduates; it was the first time in the history of our university we could not say good-bye to those we had dedicated our time and efforts to. We received various replies – some understanding, some suggesting we should have done it otherwise and some truly negative. The replies we got made us, after more discussions, realize that our decision was the right one. Let us share with you one of the replies we received. And why to share this specific one? Because the reply covers both our doubts and insecurities and because it ultimately agrees with our decision. At it feels good.
Dear Rector,
I am truly sorry that you have cancelled the graduation ceremony since it is a tradition celebrating completed studies which I, as well as other students, looked forward to very much.
However, I admit that just like you I had very thoroughly considered whether or not the members of my family should have attended the ceremony. I wanted my son to be there, but he has serious health issues, and my mom, who in terms of age belongs to the high-risk segment of population. For both of them their attendance at such event could have been dangerous to their health due to the rising numbers of coronavirus occurrence. I was thinking hard how to manage it since I wanted to deprive neither of them of the experience but at the same time I wanted to protect them both from the possible risks.
Every day we witness a constant rise of positive Covid-19 patients and I now believe your decision was the right one. I sincerely hope the situation will get better and we will get a chance to meet with other students, recall the time of our studies and say “thank you” to our teachers for their time they dedicated and knowledge they passed on to us.
Let me thank you this way for the challenging and beautiful two years I had spent in your university, as well as for the honour in attending lectures and soaking up knowledge from such experts as Assistant Professor Mates.
Thank you very much again. I will always cherish the memories of the university time.
Have a nice day. Best regards,
Eva Čapková
