Alva Review-Courier -

As the pandemic upended commencement rituals across campuses, Kim Gaddie wanted to give the University of Oklahoma's class of 2020 a taste of tradition -- well, kinda.

Armed with boxes of chalk, Gaddie, her husband and a few colleagues spent hours writing the names of graduating seniors on the concrete sidewalk where class members would have lined up to march into the ceremony. By the time they were done, the pathway was festooned with more than 4,000 colorful names.

"I was thinking to myself, 'Wow, they're not going to get a chance to do that, another tradition that won't get to be fulfilled...