A VIRTUAL march through UST Minecraft’s online recreation of the Arch of the Centuries will mark the end of college for this year’s Thomasian graduates.
The Office of the Secretary General on Wednesday released a circular that announced the schedule of virtual exit rites for the Class of 2021.
NO FACE-TO-FACE SEND-OFF FOR BATCH 2021: Virtual Baccalaureate Mass, send-off ceremonies and virtual exit through the Arch of Centuries via Minecraft scheduled for July 23, 2021 pic.twitter.com/SMytd4owQq
— The Varsitarian (@varsitarianust) June 23, 2021
The Baccalaureate Mass, to be presided by UST Rector Fr. Richard Ang, O.P., will be held on July 23 at 4 p.m., according to the circular.
The send-off proper will be held at 5 p.m., followed by a virtual exit through the Arch of the Centuries via the UST Minecraft server at 6 p.m.
The circular, signed by Acting Secretary General Fr. Louie Coronel O.P., also said that the ceremony for the UST Student Awards for Batch 2020 and Batch 2021 would be held online on July 16.
All events will be broadcast through the University’s official Facebook page.
UST Minecraft founder Charles Nobleza told the Varsitarian that the Office for Student Affairs (OSA) and Tiger Media Network (TMN) proposed the idea of utilizing the UST Minecraft server as an alternative to the traditional exit through the Arch of the Centuries.
“The proposal was to accommodate [by batches]…But according to OSA, baka one representative per section na lang daw,” he said.
The UST Minecraft server was used to welcome freshmen during the Thomasian Welcome Walk at the beginning of Academic Year 2020-2021. The server’s maximum capacity is up to 500 to 600 users.
In the traditional Welcome Walk, freshmen pass through the historic Arch of the Centuries in a Thomasian rite of passage. This comes full circle with UST graduates’ exit out of the arch, which used to be the portal of the old UST building in Intramuros, the original campus. Christine Joyce Paras
