{"id":229396,"date":"2025-05-01T07:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-01T11:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=229396"},"modified":"2025-04-30T10:50:41","modified_gmt":"2025-04-30T14:50:41","slug":"uconn-firsts-first-graduating-class","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2025\/05\/uconn-firsts-first-graduating-class\/","title":{"rendered":"UConn Firsts: First Graduating Class"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:20%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"999\" data-src=\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2028\/09\/uconnfirsts-1024x999.png\" alt=\"UConn Firsts\" class=\"wp-image-218299 img-responsive lazyload\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 1024px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 1024\/999;width:150px\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2028\/09\/uconnfirsts-1024x999.png 1024w, https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2028\/09\/uconnfirsts-300x293.png 300w, https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2028\/09\/uconnfirsts-768x749.png 768w, https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2028\/09\/uconnfirsts-1536x1499.png 1536w, https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2028\/09\/uconnfirsts-2048x1998.png 2048w, https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2028\/09\/uconnfirsts-430x420.png 430w, https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2028\/09\/uconnfirsts-682x665.png 682w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:80%\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This May, nearly 8,000 people will receive undergraduate and graduate degrees at 17 ceremonies held in four different locations at UConn, a multiday extravaganza of accomplishment that could scarcely have been imagined the first time the institution celebrated its graduates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The year was 1883, just two years after the school first opened its doors. The school didn\u2019t award bachelor\u2019s degrees for its first decade, and so everyone who completed their course of studies received a two-year certificate. And the graduating class in that very first year wouldn\u2019t have needed Gampel Pavilion to hold it: there were just six students finishing their studies, all boys, some of whom later went on to finish high school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That first ceremony was held in a grove of oak trees, near what is now Holcomb Hall, and each graduating student read a final paper as part of the exercises. They wore suits for the occasion; UConn ceremonies didn\u2019t feature the familiar cap and gown regalia until 1907.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While that first ceremony looked completely different from what students experience today, it was the first step in a long history of commencement ceremonies celebrating the most important part about UConn: the students.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignfull size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"98\" data-src=\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2028\/09\/grid-1024x98.png\" alt=\"decorative abstract grid pattern\" class=\"wp-image-218295 img-responsive lazyload\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2028\/09\/grid-1024x98.png 1024w, https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2028\/09\/grid-300x29.png 300w, https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2028\/09\/grid-768x73.png 768w, https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2028\/09\/grid-1536x147.png 1536w, https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2028\/09\/grid-2048x196.png 2048w, https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2028\/09\/grid-630x60.png 630w, https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2028\/09\/grid-1300x124.png 1300w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 1024px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 1024\/98;\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It started with six <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":229392,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2235,2633,2225,2227],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[1902],"class_list":["post-229396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-homepage","category-firsts","category-uconn-storrs","category-uconn-edu-homepage"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-23 11:55:48","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/68"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=229396"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229396\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":229397,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229396\/revisions\/229397"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/229392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229396"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=229396"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=229396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}