Mat-Su College Celebrates first in-person graduation since start of pandemic

WASILLA— The Mat-Su College celebrated its first in-person graduation since the onset of the pandemic Friday, May 6.

“We had a nice turnout,” Mat-Su College Director Talis Colberg said. “I’d love to get back in the rhythm of doing this. The walking was back. It’s a nice event when you’re all in on the stage and degrees are a part of the ceremony. I think that was really missed by a lot of folks, and we’re happy to have that ceremony back.”

Reflecting on all the time that has passed since the initial shutdowns of 2020, Colberg said that overall enrollment at universities across the country was lowered by the pandemic. He said their campus was no exception to this trend, but he’s hopeful that things are returning to normal.

“I think most people want to have interaction with other people,” Colberg said.

The return to in-person learning also brings back an important element of campus life, student extracurricular activities Colberg said their student government and clubs suffered greatly from the pandemic and he’s eager to see students gather and form social connections again.

“It feels great. I think it’s nice that it happened when the spring happens. There’s almost a sort of natural parallel of the leave coming out of the trees at the same time the students are appearing again on campus,” Colberg said. “It was giving our place a real sense of life and I hope to see that return.”

The Glenn Massay Theater recently returned to full capacity with no restrictions. The college library was also recently reopened to the public. Colberg said it’s encouraging to see these campus assets that benefit both student life and the greater community come back to life.

“I’ve been here 12 years. I would say the most transformative thing on this campus was actually the Glenn Massay Theater. It had brought more people to this school than anything else ever has. It’s just a great advertisement for the college while at the same time serving as a great place for the community to have all sorts of reasons to come together at our location,” Colberg said.

For more information, visit matsu.alaska.edu.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman reporter Jacob Mann at jacob.mann@frontiersman.com