Around the country, colleges and universities have been canceling commencement events in the wake of the coronavirus. Fortunately for graduating seniors, Natural Light is stepping in to make sure they can experience the year-end celebration they’ve been working for.
In a Thursday press release, Natural Light (or Natty Light) announced it would be hosting a “worldwide commencement ceremony” on May 14 via Facebook Live.
“Natty Light believes that every graduate has earned a celebration to revel in how epic the past few years have been, even if they can’t experience it in person together with their friends and family,” the release said.
This “first-of-its-kind graduation experience” will be open to all members of the Class of 2020 (over 21 years old), and will feature “speeches and sage advice” from notable personalities like actress Jane Lynch, entrepreneur Mark Cuban, and sports commentator Stephen A. Smith.
Natty Light has built on its “college beer” reputation to raise awareness of student loan debt, and in February offered to rent graduating students’ diplomas as part of a “highly-classified” project. It also recently began sliding into Twitter users’ DMs, offering to help pay their monthly student loan bills.
While caps and gowns are not required to attend the virtual commencement, Natty Light hopes that this will be a ceremony to remember. As Daniel Blake, a vice president at Natty Light’s parent company Anheuser-Busch put it, “The Class of 2020 not only deserves a commencement, but one of epic proportions.”
The best part of all, as Natty Light tweeted, “[Y]ou get to drink beer during it.”
