Approximately 160 students walked across the stage of the Mirenda Center on December 19 to receive their degrees in the first winter graduation ceremony the university has ever held.

Friends and family members filled seats on the floor and the bleachers on both sides of the arena during a ceremony that was every bit as joyful as May commencement exercises.

Dr. Lawrence DiPaolo, vice president for academic affairs who presided over the ceremony with Dr. Chris Domes, Neumann’s president, credited from the stage a handful of students who had persuaded him to consider a winter graduation. Those students cheered the acknowledgement from the floor, sitting in the midst of an event that they had helped create.

Ann Baiada, chair of the university board of trustees, joined Dr. Domes in conferring degrees to the graduates and seemed especially proud of the Nursing graduates who received their professional pins as part of the graduation.

Dr. Domes addressed the freshly minted alumni after Dr. Richard Sayers recognized those graduates who had completed the Honors Program.