St. John’s University hosted its first-ever Graduation Fair on April 13 in the D’Angelo Center, drawing nearly 200 soon-to-be graduates who came for one stop of Commencement 2026 information and left with a clearer sense that graduation is close.
The fair, a collaboration between the Office of Alumni Relations and Student Government, Inc., gave students information essential to the May 17 undergraduate ceremony, along with access to class of 2026 sweaters, diploma cases, scholarship cords, graduate school information, alumni perks and benefits, and University Career Services resources. The university will hold its Undergraduate-Level Commencement Exercises on Sunday, May 17, at 10 a.m. on the Great Lawn.
For students like Jorge Velez, the event landed at exactly the right moment. The advertising communications and public relations major from the Bronx said the pace of college had left him stunned. “It was super fast,” he said. “Looking back, the memories I made with my friends were incredible. It is crazy to think that in a short time I will be an alumnus.”
That same disbelief ran through the room. Kristen Pooran, a marketing student who has already been offered a position as a marketing and communications manager with a magazine publisher, said the finish line still feels distant even as it comes into view. “It does not feel real,” she said. “It feels like I started here just last week.”
For Aleena Alduenda, the fair was tied to a milestone that reaches beyond one diploma. Alduenda will graduate with a bachelor’s degree in psychology as part of a five-year, dual-degree program, and she is a first-generation college graduate. “It is a huge accomplishment for me to graduate, but it is a reflection on my family as well,” she said. “It was not only my hard work, but the work of those who supported me.”
The gathering also showed how St. John’s tries to turn senior year into a handoff rather than an ending. Beatriz Vera said the Graduation Fair was about more than logistics, calling it a way of building community and showing students the value of being a St. John’s graduate.
Giselle Suarez, a graduating biology student, said that support has already shaped what comes next for her. She said the St. John’s community helped set her on a path toward a career as a physician assistant. “Without the help of the alumni, faculty, staff, and administration here, you would not be able to get far,” Suarez said. “They are the ones who have gone ahead of you.”
The fair’s timing made it more than a ceremonial stop. With May 17 approaching and the first generation of students for this event moving from campus life into alumni status, St. John’s used the day to connect graduation day basics with the longer arc of what comes after. That is the point of a fair like this: not just to prepare students to walk across the Great Lawn, but to show them they are expected to keep coming back.
