After waiting since April 2020, my University of Canterbury classmates and I finally got to participate in a graduation ceremony this week. We graduated straight into the global pandemic so our ceremony was delayed twice, first in April and again in September.
Aotearoa New Zealand is in the enviable position to have eliminated community transmission of the virus that causes COVID-19.
As an American, everything about this graduation ceremony was new to me: the robes, the procession, the bicultural traditions.
Our day started at The Arts Centre, the former home of the University of Canterbury. We gathered just after lunch to prepare for a procession through the streets of Christchurch.
A large portion of The Arts Centre remains under renovation from the Canterbury earthquakes of 2010-2011. In the section overlooking the plaza where we gathered, many small businesses have taken up residence.
The Dean of Business, Russell Wordsworth, talked to each of us to make sure he had the correct pronunciation for our names. I suggested that he could skip my middle name, but he insisted that he had to say it because of policy — and he got it perfectly on the first try without having me say it first.
We were led out of The Arts Centre by a bagpiper who was about demonstrate his incredible endurance for a march across town. Our route took us on Worcester St, across the Ōtakaro Avon River, up Oxford Terrace, into Victoria Square, and into the back of the Christchurch Town Hall.
In case you’re wondering, I didn’t leave my place in the procession for some of these photos. I took them at the graduation procession of other classmates later in the week.
The march took us past many construction sites around the city centre. Above, the shell of Te Pae, the new convention centre in Christchurch, is assembled. Some workers stopped what they were doing as our procession went by. The convention centre is being built across several city blocks that were demolished after the quakes.
We walked along the river and the shade of the trees was quite refreshing. Wearing black on a warm day is tough.
And after a trek of one kilometre, we arrived at the Christchurch Town Hall. The complex was reopened in 2019 after undergoing renovation to repair damage from the earthquakes. While the Town Hall was being worked on, the university held its graduation ceremonies at a sports complex in another part of the city.
It took a bit of time to get everyone into the building and the bagpiper kept playing.
This is the largest auditorium inside the Town Hall. It has an impressive organ. You can hear its rich tones in our graduation video produced by the university.
The top officials of the university marched up to the stage. Fun fact: the University of Canterbury is the first and only university in the country to be led by women.
And with that, I’ve graduated with a Master of Business Information Systems with Distinction. Or more accurately, I participated in a graduation ceremony. We officially graduated back in April and received our diplomas in the mail. The ceremony this week brought a sense of finality to a decidedly challenging year.
Ernest Kung 
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