Coronavirus Florida: College seniors cope with lost traditions

From Herald Tribune, May 4, 2020

The end-of-year celebrations college seniors had been most looking forward to can’t be replicated online.

Sarasota residents fearful of wine-fueled college students tearing through the streets on bicycles while chugging boxed Cabernet can rest assured. There will be no “Tour de Franzia” this spring.
The annual race/party, named for the cheap wine New College of Florida bike enthusiasts drink as they ride through the city at the end of each semester won’t be happening.
Neither will “Worst of Ringling,” an annual house party during which students at neighboring Ringling College of Art and Design toast the seniors and roast them for their most unsuccessful attempts at creativity during an ironically titled response to the school’s official award ceremony.
Sarasota and Manatee’s institutions of higher learning have scrambled to replicate the rites of senior year, with campuses closed since mid-March because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the disease caused by the coronavirus. Colleges are mailing students their caps and gowns and encouraging students to gather on Zoom to “socialize.”
Read the entire article here.