UTEP postpones spring commencement ceremony, moves graduation to fall

EL PASO, Texas -- This weekend would have marked a big moment for graduating seniors at UTEP.

But the spring 2020 commencement ceremony has officially been postponed by Covid-19.

In a news release, UTEP announced the spring ceremony will be held in the fall of this year. Officials clarified it will not be combined with the fall commencement ceremony.

One student who spoke to ABC-7 Monday night is heartbroken.

"I went through hardships to get to my graduation. I'm 36. And I went through hell and back to get to my graduation date," Noah Borunda said in a video chat from his living room in Juarez.

Borunda, a kinesiology student in the College of Health Sciences, said he felt sympathy for his classmates who were from elsewhere in the nation and may not be able to return "Cool, we get our degree in the mail. But my mom doesn't get to see me graduate from college -- which I never, I never in a million years thought I was going to (do)."

Borunda is one of 2,300 students who is eligible to graduate from UTEP this spring.

UTEP is encouraging the use of #UTEPgrad on social media, and is asking for everyone to wear orange and walk in their neighborhoods on May 16 and 17.

The "Mining Minds" pickaxe sculpture on campus will be lit blue and orange from Wednesday to Sunday in honor of the class of 2020.