Graduating from college is a big deal for anybody. It’s the kind of day that’s unlikely to be forgotten. But when a bunch of snow gets dumped on the spring proceedings, things become even more memorable.
Yes, it’s commencement season.
May is a great month to hold these ceremonies. Besides falling at the end of the exam period, the weather is usually nice for a big outdoor ceremony. Usually.
Let’s set the scene.
The University of Colorado Boulder is used to snowy weather. But by May, the white stuff is usually long gone. Here’s how things looked at last year’s commencment in 2018 . It looks like a gorgeous day.
Commencement Day 2019 was a bit different.
The day dawned grey and snowy . It looked more like mid-November than early May, but people in Colorado are a hearty bunch. They’re not the types to let a little snow ruin things.
A huge crowd packed the stadium.
Grads, friends, family members and faculty bundled up and gathered at CU’s Folsom Field, which holds 50,000 people. Considering there was snow on the ground and these are college students, what happened next was almost predictable.
Let the snowball fight commence!
So long as everyone’s having fun and no one’s ganging up on anyone or whatever, having a big snowball fight is a great form of winter fun…even if winter is stretching into May.
Grads pelted each other.
They didn’t all participate, but videos posted showed a good number of snowballs being pelted around the stadium. In the bottom left of this image, you can see a grad who’s just tossed one.
Memorable is the world.
This regent got a taste of what commencements are like in Colorado. Students attending sun belt colleges must be shivering just looking at these chilly pics out of Boulder.
The event went viral.
Graduating on a snowy day in May is probably newsworthy enough on its own, but when you factor in a snowball fight that potentially incorporates tens of thousands of people, it becomes an even more fun story.
That’s Colorado for you.
None of the tweets about this really express annoyance at the late snowfall or chilly weather. They’re all about enjoying the wintry experience, which is a hallmark of anyone living in a cold climate.
Go Buffs!
Thousands of grads equals thousands of lives, thousands of stories, and thousands of futures. Best of luck to these recent grads. If your commencement ceremony is any indication, you’ll all have interesting futures.
