Sunday, May 21st will be the final commencement in the 86-year history of Cardinal Stritch University – but university officials are working to make sure that the spotlight remains on the Class of 2023 as they walk the stage.
“We’re looking forward to celebrating our students and trying to keep this as normal as possible given the circumstances,” said university president Dr. Dan Scholz.
The commencement will be held at 10 a.m at the Wisconsin Center and will also be live-streamed. Scholz said that even with their focus on making the ceremony as good as possible for the students, the fact that it will be the last one is on everyone’s minds.
“It’s bittersweet. We’ve been talking about ‘let’s just stay focused on the positives’ and stay focused on really the work of our students,” he said.
Since the university announced it would be shutting down due to financial difficulties in April, a number of local colleges including the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Concordia University, and Carroll University, have stepped in to help in the next steps for students who won’t graduate from Cardinal Stritch.
“The number one concern of everybody particularly the area institutions was for our students,” Scholz said, “There’s just been a tremendous outreach in that regard.”
While Sunday’s ceremony will be the last commencement, it doesn’t mean the school is fully closed. Scholz said there is limited summer school occurring for some students who are close to completing their degrees.
“We wanted to commit to the students who can reasonably finish with summer school courses and be done and graduate in August,” Scholz said.
A firm date for Cardinal Stritch’s final day of operations has not been announced.
