Nevada State College tentatively plans August graduation

Nevada State College in Henderson is tentatively planning an August graduation ceremony for its class of 2020.

The college, along with many others in Nevada and nationwide, postponed its spring graduation ceremony because of the COVID-19 outbreak. For now at least, it’s rescheduled for 6 p.m. Aug. 18 at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas.

NSC’s graduation was originally scheduled for Tuesday. To mark the occasion, President Bart Patterson released a video message.

“We are so proud of your accomplishment. We feel so bad that we can’t all be together in a formal graduation ceremony right now, but we’re still very, very proud of what you’ve done,” Patterson said.

He added: “And God willing and a little luck, we will have a graduation in August.”

UNLV and the College of Southern Nevada haven’t announced new graduation dates.

CSN asked students for their preference between an in-person or virtual graduation ceremony and they overwhelmingly chose to wait for an in-person ceremony, spokesman Richard Lake said in a Wednesday email.

UNR’s spring graduates have the choice “to celebrate their achievements coinciding with, but be separate from,” the December 2020 or spring 2021 graduation ceremonies, the university said on its website.

The Clark County School District announced in mid-April it would postpone high school graduations. Individual schools will come up with their own plans that ensure social distancing, the district said.

Bishop Gorman High School, a private Catholic high school in Las Vegas, has rescheduled its graduation for July 15 at South Point Arena.

Contact Julie Wootton-Greener at jgreener@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2921. Follow @julieswootton on Twitter.