From the Nominator

"With COVID-19 again disrupting in-person graduations, Northern Vermont University built upon the virtual celebration created for 2020 and scaled it to a full virtual commencement for two campuses. The goal: To create an experience that was much grander than speakers at a podium and would convey warmth and excitement while also being highly personalized. 

To deliver this, we created YouTube premiere events and redesigned the microsites developed for 2020. Our in-house talent took on all the work—from filming and editing the video to coding new tools to render customized slides for all 489 graduates. Each graduate was included in the ceremony through a diploma slide and were invited to add photos and videos to their slide.  

Guided by a master of ceremony, each commencement included messages from the university president, a guest speaker, graduates, and alumni council presidents—all pre-recorded following COVID protocols. A student on each campus recorded a rendition of each campus's alma mater and special messages from faculty were included, too. The microsite provided an accessible experience where visitors could re-watch individual speakers and view each graduate’s personalized web page. See https://donorth.northernvermont.edu/class-of-2021/.  

NVU’s Virtual Commencement 2021 was a labor of love and was well received by the community. As one graduate shared: “My friends, family, and everyone I have spoken to were absolutely blown away by what was presented. The production quality exceeded everyone’s expectations. […] The attention to detail showed how much thought and effort was put into this experience.”"

From the Judges

The microsite, personal messages, video, and graduate slides were all wonderful. This is a leading example of making the most out of a challenging situation and giving it an A+ effort that paid off for their graduates and families. This was well-thought out and planned, and it shows. I felt like I was a part of this community just watching and browsing the supplemental information.