Memphis Dad Holds College Graduation Ceremony In His Driveway for His Daughter

One Tennessee father pulled out all the stops to make sure his daughter got the college graduation she deserved while in quarantine.

College senior Gabrielle Pierce was upset that after four years, she wouldn’t get to walk across the stage to graduate from Xavier University in Louisiana due to the coronavirus lockdowns.

But her father Torrence Burson told FOX13 he wasn’t going to let the virus stop her from having her big day, so he set up a stage in his driveway, dressed in a cap and gown and held their own commencement ceremony at home in Memphis.

“After all those years, you’re going to walk across somebody’s stage if I have to build you one myself,” Torrence Burson told FOX13. “I went to bed and woke up in the middle of the night and said, ‘that’s it. I’m just going to have the graduation here.”

His daughter Gabrielle said, “Initially I was upset, I was crying. It took me like a week to stop crying. I really wanted to walk; I felt like I needed to walk.”

They held the ceremony complete with a procession, national anthem, and commencement speech before Gabrielle collected her Bachelors of Public Health Science with a Minor in Biology.

Congrats to all the 2020 graduates!