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Graduates arrive at the University of Southern Maine’s Hannaford Lecture Hall on Wednesday for their walk across the stage.
Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer
Saige Hughes waited in an empty Hannaford Hall at the University of Southern Maine on Wednesday afternoon. When her name was read aloud by the dean of students, Hughes walked past rows of vacant seats and stepped up to the stage. She pulled down her face mask to unveil a smile and posed for a photo.
The moment – signaling the end of Hughes’ college career at USM – was over as quickly as it began. A friend and fellow nursing student, Alexa Goodrich, captured it in a cellphone video from the back of the auditorium as a handful of staff in the sparsely populated lecture hall erupted in cheers.