My graduation walk got canceled by COVID. My daughter’s was ruined by AI.

• Gracella Brown’s graduation ceremony from Glendale Community College was canceled by the COVID-19 pandemic.
• She then missed her daughter’s graduation walk because of an AI system flub. “I feel like I was robbed of that joy,” she said.
• GCC’s president apologized for the issue. “We are deeply sorry that the experience fell short,” she wrote to graduates.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with 41-year-old business owner Gracella Brown and her 20-year-old daughter, Gracelle Jones, from Glendale, Arizona. It’s been edited for length and clarity. Glendale Community College apologized for disappointment caused by “a technical issue. You can read the college’s full statement at the bottom of the essay.

Gracella Brown: I attended Glendale Community College for my Associate of Arts, starting in 2016, and I graduated in 2019. They didn’t have the ceremony until 2020, and since COVID was going on, they weren’t able to do it.

It was a really big deal for me, since I was a first-generation college graduate, but I didn’t get to walk. I knew what was going on in the country, so it wasn’t something I took personally, but it was still a disappointment.

They sent me my robe, cap, and stole, and that was it. I put them on, and it felt great to finally accomplish my goals. That was my form of celebration.

I was really looking forward to seeing my daughter graduate from the same school that I graduated from, but I ended up missing that as well.

Gracelle Jones: For me, it was a difficult decision to attend GCC. I was previously in a different school, and then I fell back and decided I should go a different direction. GCC was more affordable and closer to home. I decided it was a better decision to go from high school to community college. I studied philosophy.

I was deciding whether I even wanted to go to graduation. Then I was like, “This is a day of celebration for me.” So, I signed up.

They had a community event to pick up a stole. Otherwise, the school would charge you $33 for a regular one or $55 for a woven stole. I ended up missing it because I was working those days or was tired from work. I ended up using the one that my mom got from her graduation.

Brown: I was able to let her use mine, since I didn’t get the chance to use it. My daughter was graduating from the same school that I graduated from. That was a family legacy that we’re building.

Jones: At first, it was normal. They had the president speaking, then the staff. When they got to the calling of the graduates, at first it didn’t seem weird, because I thought it was a person calling out the names. Then, I would hear repeated names or people being skipped.

It wasn’t until I got to the stage itself that I noticed they were scanning our name cards. Everyone was talking about it around me. They were really frustrated.

Brown: I did not see her cross the stage. When I saw her, she was coming from the seating area. When she got up on the stage, I don’t know how I missed her. I was paying attention to the screens.

Then, I saw her name. I started looking for her. Where is she at? I was thinking, maybe she had just gotten off the stage. When I looked back at the YouTube video, I saw that her name came way after that.

That made me upset. The whole purpose of my attending was to see my daughter walk. That’s the whole point of going to the graduation. I feel like I was robbed of that joy. Me having to go back onto a YouTube video to watch it, when I was actually there, I don’t feel good about that.

Jones: They recalled graduates to walk again, but I didn’t walk back up. At that point, I was ready to go home. I was already frustrated, and they were very indecisive. It was like two hours of listening to people talk.

Brown: We were texting. I was telling her, “I don’t see you, where are you?” She said: “I walked already.” I was so upset that I got up and left. I actually booed on the way out. I did not care who heard me or how it made some other families feel.

Jones: Around the time that people started leaving, the president came up and said that they were using a “new AI system.” All of the graduates booed.

Brown: I actually like AI, since I’m from an older generation. I have heard of the younger generation not accepting it as much. I have used AI in my business marketing. It has a lot of glitches, and it has a lot to learn, but I think it can be useful.

In this situation, though, I don’t think they should have used AI. I think it should have been the actual names.

Jones: I’m more against it. Not AI in general, because AI is basically in everything. But, in some aspects like this one, it wasn’t the best thing to use. It was not troubleshooted and was very experimental.

It felt like a very unprofessional situation. At the very least, we could have been told what was going to happen, instead of it being this experimental thing on the day of graduation.

Brown: We did enjoy ourselves afterwards to make up for it. We had a little get-together at the house, had some eats, and sat out in the pool.

The full statement from Glendale Community College is below:

“As the college shared, a technical issue during the ceremony impacted the reading of some graduates’ names. Once the issue was identified, the ceremony was paused, and graduates were invited to walk the stage again so their names could be recognized correctly.

“We know commencement is an important milestone for students and their families, and we are sorry for the disappointment this caused. We are proud of our graduates and everything they have accomplished, and we remain focused on celebrating their achievements and what comes next for them.”