What’s the most important weekend on UConn’s calendar?

Nope, it’s not the weekend of the Final Four, although Huskies can pretty much count on that one as being of likely significance for the Basketball Capital of the World every year.

But the most important weekend of the year is this weekend: capital-C Commencement Weekend.

Ever since the first ceremony in Storrs in 1883, the final weekend of the academic year has been the payoff for the years of hard work and persistence that came before it. For every setback, every moment of doubt or discouragement, this weekend was always shining in the distance as a promised reward for perseverance, and now that reward is here.

From Saturday, May 9 through the evening of Monday, 13 – with a final ceremony at the UConn School of Law on May 17 – more than 8,000 Huskies will hear their names called as they make the transition from “student” to “alumnus.” It’s not just a big moment – it’s the biggest.

University photographers Sean Flynn, Sydney Herdle, and Peter Morenus will be at all 16 ceremonies this month. Here are just a few of the unforgettable moments they captured on Saturday and Sunday.