A college commencement ceremony is one the most storied traditions at any university, but for students graduating from Youngstown state this fall, that ceremony will be a virtual one.

"At Youngstown State, safety is our first priority and we would like to think about how to keep our students and community as safe as possible," says Brien Smith, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Youngstown State University. 

The University informed students in a newsletter on September 28th that the ceremony would be virtual for the second straight semester, but since then a student-lead petition has started to hopefully help the University to reconsider.

"A lot of graduates in the Fall are looking forward to walking, you know, this has been kind of a crazy year and this is kind of like the beacon at the end of the tunnel."

Michelle McDonald is a senior and first-generation student and started the petition two days ago. She believes there are ways the University could safely host a commencement ceremony.

"We have suggested even if there's one guest per student or even if we can't have any guests then that's fine, that's completely fine if it's just us and whoever is there to distribute the diplomas that are completely fine with us," says Mcdonald. 

Smith says he is open to welcoming students who have graduated and missed a commencement to walk when it's deemed safe to hold a ceremony again but at this time, the University says it's logistically and financially too difficult to hold any sort of ceremony other than a virtual one.