Warren Community College, like many other institutions of higher learning, did not have a commencement ceremony in 2020 due to the COVID crisis. In an effort to acknowledge those graduates from last year, and this year, the college has invited graduates from both years to participate in this year’s commencement, scheduled for Saturday morning June 26.

Until restrictions on crowd capacities were recently lifted by New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, many graduation ceremonies around the state were on hold or very limited. Now that the restriction has been lifted, Warren has quickly gone ahead with plans to honor its graduates.

“No matter what, we were determined to do something this year,” said Dr. Phil Linfante, Chair of the WCC Board of Trustees, noting that typically commencement at Warren takes place in mid-May.  At its May meeting, the Board approved the June commencement proposal unanimously. Once the decision was made, the college set in motion plans for the big day. 

“This is great for the college and great for the community,” said Dr. Linfante. “Our students worked hard to get their degrees and we wanted to make sure they would be recognized to the utmost.”

While the commencement will not have the full pomp and circumstance of past years, each of the graduating attendees will be individually acknowledged.

“It’s been a crazy year and a half for the students – and our staff,” said Dr. Will Austin, President of Warren. “We are all just so thrilled to be able to honor them with a ceremony and give them their due.”

Even through COVID Warren has continued to maintain its highly ranked statewide successful graduation rate. With many classes held virtually during this time, Warren has the distinction of having graduates not only from Warren County and the surrounding region, but also a few grads from as far away as Florida, Virginia, and New York, and closer to home, from Pennsylvania.