Closure is one of the main reasons why University of Idaho alumnus, Ramiro Vargas, is returning for the belated 2020 Commencement this May. His departure from UI last March was not how he envisioned finishing his college career.
Vargas, a graduate in Broadcasting and Digital Media, left Moscow in March 2020 after UI transitioned online. He returned to his family home where he concluded classes and graduated. It was not how he imagined the final chapter in his college life.
A first-generation college student, Vargas was hoping for his family to watch him receive his degree. He said it meant a lot to his family, wanting to celebrate this accomplishment.
“Throughout my four years there, it was the number one goal,” Vargas said. “I’m going to do this because people before me worked so hard for the opportunity,” Vargas said.
Vargas has received a job in social media and customer service with a local Boise company. Although he described the transition from online graduation to job hunting as difficult. His job search would have started in March 2020, but the pandemic derailed his plans, like many other college graduates of 2020.
Several companies that Vargas had planned on applying to were either no longer hiring because of COVID-19 precautions or were unsure because of the turbulence. This period of the unknown was discouraging for Vargas. It wasn’t until the late summer of 2020 that he found a job with Lovevery.
Vargas said that his time working at the Department of Student Involvement at UI prepared his skills that he utilizes with his position in social media and customer service. He said the job lifted any pressure he’s felt since the challenging adjustment from graduating college during a pandemic.
Several of Vargas’ classmates have felt the same struggle in finding jobs after graduating during the pandemic. Vargas has noticed similar obstacles of being lost in the passage of job searching.
“We thought it would be okay,” Vargas said. “We have a degree; we have this set of skills.”
Vargas will be attending the upcoming commencement for the class of 2020 and 2021 held at the Moscow campus. He originally hadn’t planned on participating in the event, but now sees the opportunity as a chance to find closure in his college career.
“Thinking about how much it means to me, to my family being a first-generation college student,” Vargas said. “It means so much that I had the opportunity to go to college.”
Sierra Pesnell can be reached at [email protected]