Two years after Skidmore’s Class of 2020 graduated virtually at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, about 300 class members returned to campus to reconnect and, at long last, celebrate their graduation in person.  

Those who were in attendance recreated the fun of Skidmore Senior Week and the poignance of crossing a stage in front of their peers, families, and the College community. The Commencement Celebration in Arthur Zankel Music Center was also livestreamed in recognition that many of the graduates and their families are now all over the world.  

There were hoots, hollers, and high-fives, as well as tears of joy, relief, and some sorrow. More importantly, members of the class were able to celebrate the completion of a seminal life journey and reflect, with classmates, on four memorable years at Skidmore and two subsequent years of challenge, perseverance, and accomplishment. They were also finally able to hug some of the people they’ve so dearly missed. 
 
Looking back, a message from their unprecedented virtual Commencement set the tone for their weekend: “No one could have prepared us for our current situation,” Jinan Al-Busaidi ’20, president of the class, said in May 2020. “Nevertheless, nothing can take away the experiences that have allowed us to grow, nor the families we have made for ourselves at Skidmore … ‘We made it’ means so much more to the Class of 2020. Let us look forward to the future because we have earned it.” 
 
Al-Busaidi returned to address the class once again at the Celebration alongside President Marc  C. Conner and President Emeritus Philip A. Glotzbach. Two honorary degree recipients, Dr. Tricia Hellman Gibbs and Dr. Richard Gibbs, were also recognized at the ceremony.
 
Class of 2020, it was great to have you back. Your resilience and spirit, your willingness to accept and embrace the unexpected, and your ongoing contributions to the world will be etched in our hearts and in the history of the College for a long time to come.

In honor of your belated celebration, we’ve curated a few points to remember your remarkable time at Skidmore.    

642 Graduates

435 B.A., 206 B.S., and 1 M.A.

 

Academics

In true multidisciplinary, liberal arts fashion, the graduates collectively completed 752 majors and 384 minors. The most popular major was management and business (111), and the most popular minor was media and film studies (32).

They collected hundreds of awards and memberships in national honor societies, co-authored published research, and presented at numerous academic conferences. 

 

Athletics

Class of 2020 student-athletes challenged and rewrote the record books during their time at Skidmore. It's hard to celebrate without recognizing that spring athletes missed much of their senior seasons, but no one can deny that the time before and after has been about building lifelong connections with teammates.

 

Campus Life

The Class of 2020 poured their hearts and souls into their four years at Skidmore, joining and leading countless student clubs, participating in and going to hundreds of campus events and performances, advocating for equity and justice on campus and across the globe, creating new sustainability initiatives, and serving as peer mentors, health educators, and more. Along the way, every student made a difference. 

Post-grad and beyond

Despite unimaginable obstacles in this country and across the globe, the Class of 2020 tenaciously pushed forward and pursued their dreams. From graduate school to first jobs, some of the places members of the Class of 2020 headed to right after graduation included:  

Employers 

AIG 
Albany Molecular Research Inc. 
Amazon Web Services  
AmeriCorps 
Ayco 
BBC News 
Boston Children’s Hospital 
Capital One 
City Year Boston 
Columbia University 
Dana Farber Cancer Institute 
Denver Public Schools 
Freedom Mortgage 
GE Power 
Guidepoint Healthcare Consultancy Group 
i360 
IBM 
KPMG 
M&T Bank 
Massachusetts General Hospital 
McKinsey Consulting 
NPR 
National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration/Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences 
Northeastern University 
Office of the New York State Attorney General 
Santander Corporate & Investment Bank 
Saratoga Hospital 
Social Security Administration 
Somerville Homeless Coalition 
Sotheby’s 
Success Academy Charter Schools 
The Chestnut Hill School 
Trilia Media 
Vineyard Vines 

Further education 

Auburn University, counseling/psychology 
Boston University, physical therapy 
Brown University, public humanities 
Colorado State University, food science and human nutrition 
Columbia University, ecology evolution and conservation biology 
Cornell University, accounting 
Dartmouth College, engineering 
Duke University, business 
George Mason University, sports and recreation studies 
Hunter College, dance education 
Indiana University, law 
McGill University, law 
New York University, data science 
Rochester Institute of Technology, business 
Sarah Lawrence University, creative writing 
Simmons University, library and information science 
Swedish University of Agricultural Science, soil, water and environment 
Syracuse University, illustration 
The Johns Hopkins University, data science 
University of Chicago, public policy 
University of Connecticut, law 
University of Iceland, geology 
University of Miami, exploration science 
University of North Carolina at Charlotte, kinesiology 
University of Texas, law 
University of Wisconsin - Madison, atmospheric and oceanic sciences