Point Park, Pitt 2024 grads relish triumphs over pandemic-era troubles

Marley Parker began her studies four years ago at Point Park University living out of a hotel room Downtown — a comfortable enough space just a few blocks off campus, although light years from a normal freshman experience.

Housed there temporarily by her university to reduce dorm occupancy amid a pandemic, it wasn’t the first or last jolt the Gateway High School graduate from Monroeville would experience as part of the Class of 2024, a group who from high school on weathered political and social unrest and, of late, a war between Israel and Hamas that sparked campus protests.

Instead of starting out college with mixers and dorm parties, she had a different freshman experience inside the Hilton Garden Inn off Market Square.

“They didn’t really want you to socialize. They said, ‘Go do what you need to do, but go straight back to your room,’ ’’ Parker said of her first weeks as a freshman grappling with the restrictions forced by covid-19.

But Parker, 22, whose commencement Friday makes her among the first to receive a diploma in Pittsburgh this spring, sounded upbeat despite those challenges.

“I look back at those high school years, and there were so many big problems at the time, but now I think, ‘That’s stupid,’ ’’ she said this week. “I think it was kind of beautiful for me because I really got to spend time with myself. And I got to figure out hobbies and what to do about things. I feel like I really got in tune with myself.”

‘Unique group’

Parker, with a degree in psychology, said she discovered that life was about some things beyond her control.

Point Park’s commencement ceremony in PPG Paints Arena on Friday afternoon ushered in a weekend during which regional schools will bestow degrees.

Among them is the University of Pittsburgh, which will hold its graduation at the Petersen Events Center at 1 p.m. Sunday. Ceremonies at Pitt Greensburg, Pitt Johnstown and Pitt Titusville are planned for Saturday, while Pitt Bradford will honor graduates on Sunday.

Chatham University will hold its commencement Sunday, too.

In recent weeks, much attention has focused on what experiences the Class of 2024 missed. But there is another side, one of perseverance and patience that some say distinguishes this year’s college graduates.

A Robert Morris University administrator spoke to it recently in explaining why his school wanted to give its graduating seniors a high school prom they did not have in spring 2020.

“The Class of 2024 is a unique group. They’ve really had some challenges, but they’ve also shown real resilience,” said John Locke, who as RMU’s chief experience officer is overseeing the event.

In addition to coping with a pandemic, the Class of 2024 has grappled with major societal issues including the Black Lives Matter movement, the Supreme Court’s monumental decisions on abortion rights and affirmative action, and war in the Middle East, which has led to campus protests across the country and, closer to home, an encampment of protesters at Pitt.

In-person graduation

Parker has plans for her psychology degree.

“I’m going straight into the clinical psychology doctoral program at Point Park to become a clinical psychologist. My goal is to become a therapist with a private practice and run community mental health programs,” she said.

Looking back at the end of high school, Parker said, it was traumatic but seems far removed now.

“I feel like a completely different person,” she said. “I’ve moved on. I feel like I know myself better than ever.”

Parker’s freshman year began far from normal, starting with her orientation.

“You’d walk by a table and grab a bag of activities and bring it back to your dorm and hop on a Zoom call,” she said.

But that experience moved her to get involved organizing future orientation sessions.

Having settled for an outdoor, drive-by high school graduation at Monroeville Mall in 2020, Parker on Friday was able to experience the sights and sounds of an in-person celebration, where she claimed her degree and rejoiced with family and peers.

Parker said she will probably never get over losing her high school prom to covid, but she also understands in hindsight the restrictions imposed for her safety.

She has also come to terms with the interruption of her dance and band pursuits.

“I danced for 15 years. And then on a random Thursday in March, I never went back to the studio,” she said. “And the same with band. I did not pick up my flute again after March.”

Shout-out to parents

At Pitt, graduating senior Michael Sobol, a double major in neuroscience and politics and philosophy, will be joining the University of Notre Dame’s Alliance for Catholic Education Teaching Fellows Program for a year before going to medical school.

The senior from Buffalo, N.Y., found solace even as he began his virtual studies from home.

“I am grateful for the fact, really, primarily, that my parents and I were all home together,” he said.

In his speech at Friday’s Point Park ceremony, graduating senior Marc Palombo, president of the student government association, mentioned that the pandemic delayed his graduation by a year. But it also let him explore what his real interests were during a gap year in which he sold shoes in his parents’ store and made TikTok videos.

He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in acting.

“All my friends thought I wasn’t going to return and it would be the end of my academic career,” Palombo said. “But in reality, taking that year off was the best decision I ever made.”

He gave a nod to parents in the arena, saying, “Thank you for raising us. Thank you for putting up with us. Thank you for believing in us. That is what family is for, and I don’t take that for granted.”