An East Elmhurst college student missed his graduation but that didn’t stop him from celebrating with his fellow New Yorkers.
Jerich Alcantara, a nursing student at Hunter College, was on his way to his graduation on May 30 when extensive delays on the E train made him more than two hours late to the ceremony, according to NY1. Alcantara told NY1 that he left 45 minutes early to make it on time but it wasn’t enough.
Alcantara, who was wearing his cap and gown on the train, saw that his fellow straphangers were agitated about the long delay and decided to thank them for being there for his graduation.
“I was wearing the cap and gown the whole time, and honestly when we were on the train at some point it looked like everyone was kinda upset, tired of everything so I decided I’d just thank everyone for being there for my graduation that it meant a whole lot to me and then they just all started cheering,” he told NY1.
Facebook user Nadiya Afzal captured video of Alcantara’s friend handing over his “diploma” while Greenday’s “Good Riddance” played in the background.
When he finally arrived at his graduation just after the official ceremony ended, his friends and family also threw him a “mini graduation,” he said.
Alcantara graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School and also works at the New York Hall of Science in Corona as a program explainer, according to his Linkedin.
