A Special Gift for Graduation

Purdue University Fort Wayne surprises graduates with commencement keepsake boxes to celebrate their accomplishments amid a pandemic and canceled graduation ceremony.
Aug 7, 2020
Heather Herron
Jeffrey Crane & provided

After years of hard work at Purdue University Fort Wayne, Jennifer Potter was excited about the chance to don a cap and gown, walk across the stage and receive her diploma. She and her family had been looking forward to that moment for a long time. Then COVID-19 hit, and like most universities and colleges across the country, Purdue Fort Wayne had to cancel its planned commencement ceremony. 

“My children were especially disappointed. They had been looking forward to seeing me graduate after watching how hard I worked to earn my computer engineering degree. With the cancellation of graduation, the end seemed anticlimactic,” says Potter.

University leaders knew that Potter wasn’t the only one feeling that way, so they wanted to devise a plan to honor the students while keeping them safe and adhering to the state’s social distancing guidelines. They came up with the idea to create keepsake commencement boxes that could be shipped to each graduate. 

“It’s important to us to make sure that they know how excited we are for them,” says University Events and Ceremonies Director Kelly Shanks. “I love seeing the students so happy, I love seeing their parents so happy. There is more to commencement than just the turning of the tassel. It’s a family event.”

Shanks and Krissy Creager, Purdue Fort Wayne’s vice chancellor for student affairs, were among those who spent nearly six weeks planning and executing the surprise. 

“Let’s be honest. They lost the vast majority of the fun and memorable things often experienced during a senior year of college,” Creager explains. “For any of us who have been through that, those were really important moments in our lives. They didn’t get that, so just making sure they feel special, they feel recognized, they feel heard is really what means the most to us.”

A team of volunteers assembled the boxes, which included a Purdue Fort Wayne license plate holder, diploma cover, tassel, letter from Chancellor Ron Elsenbaumer, confetti and Smarties candy.

“We wanted this to be a total surprise for our students, so we kept the secret internal to a small group,” Creager says proudly. “The team we recruited are diehard volunteers and they assembled each box with total love for our students.”

“I think a lot of institutions have done pre-packaged boxes. We didn’t buy a finished product. That’s the difference. They were packed by the people who they were around for their years on this campus,” adds Shanks.

Most of the more than 1,500 boxes were delivered through the mail, but three lucky recipients, including Potter, got a special visit from the school’s mastodon mascot Don.

“Receiving the graduation box gave a sense of celebration that my children could share,” Potter stresses.
“Having the mastodon personally deliver my box was the icing on the cake!”

Shanks and Creager say they speak for everyone at the university when they express their heartfelt congratulations to the class of 2020, along with their admiration of students who had to deal with uncertainty, adversity, and challenges that arose when COVID-19 forced the campus to close.

“No pandemic is ever going to take this away from you,” Creager emphasizes. “You are still a college graduate and that’s to be celebrated. That’s to be appreciated. All these other things that are going on in this world can never deprive you of that.” 

Keepsake boxes were delivered nationwide and abroad, a reflection of the university’s growth as an international destination for higher education and Fort Wayne’s place as a home away from home for many students.

“We want our graduates to remember they are always part of the Mastodon family,” Creager adds. “We will always be their institution, their alma mater. That means something to us, and we certainly hope and believe it means something to them as well.” 


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