Midnight Green, Meet Blue And Yellow: La Salle University Holding In-Person Graduation Ceremonies At Lincoln Financial Field
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A university in Philadelphia has found a way to safely hold in-person commencement ceremonies this year. La Salle and Lincoln Financial Field fit perfectly together.
The Linc is usually jam-packed on the weekends, but this Saturday, it'll be a different uniform taking center stage for the first time.
Midnight green, meet blue and yellow.
"I've never truly been on a football field," Sephora Dikabou said, "so just thinking about the Linc in general, I can't imagine how big it's going to be."
La Salle's first off-campus commencement in 25 years will be a two-for-one.
The Class of 2021 will walk in the morning, and 2020 will finally get its day in the afternoon.
"We wanted these celebrations to really be world-class," La Salle Director of Strategic Initiatives Gina Scozzaro said, "and a world-class experience that would be one they'd truly remember forever considering all that our graduates have had had to sacrifice over the last year."
"We haven't had many events for us, so it's one of the bigger events in the past calendar year, which is exciting," Eagles Event Operations Manager Lauren Gress said.
The two classes will allow over 3,000 students to walk and the school expects 9,000 total while masks will be required to be worn inside.
The school recognized they couldn't house a ceremony that included friends and family of graduates while adhering to the city's COVID policies, so they reached out to the Linc.
Count 2021 grads Dikabou and Lam Doan among the many who cannot wait to walk.
"To be honest, because I'm too excited, I don't know exactly what I'm long for," Doan said. "If you ask me what I'm looking forward to, I don't know. Because anything can happen."
"Maybe we should keep this going as a tradition," Dikabou said. "I think maybe we should keep graduating classes at the Linc field, why not?"
This year's class will walk at 10 a.m. while the Class of 2020 will walk at 3 p.m.
Social distancing in the stands is expected for parents and family.
