Anoop Judge | Author · Writing Instructor · Former T.V. Host​

COVID-Complicated Graduations: In-person or Virtual?

Her first reaction after receiving the email from the University announcing that commencement would be conducted online was to cry. Across Southern California, larger colleges were announcing plans for in-person graduations—so why not hers?

Then, twenty-two-year-old Anya dried her tears and turned to Instagram, asking: If Vanguard University hosted an in-person graduation, would they attend?

When eighty percent of the respondents said ‘Yes,’ she and two classmates created a GoFundMe account and started selling tickets.

Celebrating the Corona Class of 2020

How do you celebrate a daughter’s graduation from college when you’re in the middle of a corona crisis—when the world is shut down, and everyone is sheltering in place? How do you mark a milestone without the pomp and circumstance of a formal graduation ceremony?

This is what we did.

Anoop Judge is a blogger and an author, who’s lived in the San Francisco-Bay Area for the past 27 years. As an Indian-American writer, her goal is to discuss the diaspora of Indian people in the context of twenty-first century America.