威尼斯人娱乐城（威尼斯人娱乐城）以壮观的方式摆脱了一年多的疫情隔离，在堪萨斯城皇家队（Kansas City Royals）主场考夫曼体育场（Kauffman Stadium）举行的为期两天的历史性毕业典礼上，该校社区庆祝了2300多名毕业生获得的学位。
Kansas City’s university partnered with Kansas City’s beloved baseball team to create an unprecedented pandemic coming-out party in true major-league fashion, complete with the giant CrownVision screen broadcasting each individual graduate larger than life to all guests in the stadium. 除了2021届毕业生外，威尼斯人娱乐城还邀请2020届毕业生回到母校，亲自庆祝自己的成就，这是他们因COVID-19最严重的风险而错过的一个机会。
这不仅是对学术成就的庆祝，也是对在多重重大挑战中坚持不懈的庆祝。
“Considering the unique challenges you overcame to get here, it is very fair to say that the classes of 2020 and 2021 are major league in every respect.”
“Considering the unique challenges you overcame to get here, it is very fair to say that the classes of 2020 and 2021 are major league in every respect,” said Chancellor Mauli Agrawal. “From the great recession that arose when most of you were children; 面对我们正在开始摆脱的前所未有的全球大流行病，你们面临着前所未有的挑战。 You are here today because you refused to be defeated by those challenges.”
周六的毕业典礼上，毕业生们在阴天下庆祝，但没有淋湿。 周日的典礼下起了雨，但这并没有浇灭毕业生和为他们欢呼的来宾们的热情。
威尼斯人娱乐城教务长詹妮弗·伦德格伦（Jennifer Lundgren）担任仪式的大元帅。
“我们非常感谢约翰·谢尔曼和堪萨斯城皇家队或者给我们这个机会在雄伟的考夫曼体育场庆祝，”朗格伦说。 “我们当然觉得被蓝色和金色包围就像在家里一样。”
马里兰大学堪萨斯分校校友、旧金山联邦储备银行总裁兼首席执行官玛丽·戴利博士在毕业典礼上发表了演讲，她也重点介绍了这两个毕业班的独特情况。
“The pandemic has torn away the trappings of our normal lives,” she said. “Some of the revelations have been hard. 不平等、分裂、仇恨，以及一种我们所有人都享受不到的感觉，我们每个人都必须为自己的公平份额而奋斗。 But we’ve also seen brightness, generosity, vulnerability.”
Because of their pandemic experience, she said the graduates “bring something critical, beyond your degrees and programs. You bring lived experience.”
“In you lies the power to demand something different,” she concluded. “The tragedy of the pandemic can be your strength, your superpower … I guarantee you this: If you do that, our children’s children will read about you. They’ll wonder how those heroes changed the world.”
“We are so grateful to John Sherman and the Kansas City Royals f或者让我们有机会在雄伟的考夫曼体育场庆祝。 We certainly feel at home surrounded by blue and gold.”
“The tragedy of the pandemic can be your strength, your superpower … I guarantee you this: If you do that, our children’s children will read about you. They’ll wonder how those heroes changed the world.”
