Coronavirus California

Blockeley University to host a virtual graduation, 2-day music festival on Minecraft for UC Berkeley students

ByVictoria Vallecorse KGO logo

Thursday, May 14, 2020

Virtual graduation and music festival for Cal students

The digital Minecraft campus, Blockeley University, will host a 2-day celebration for graduating seniors.

BERKELEY, Calif. (KGO) -- The digital replica of the UC Berkeley campus on Minecraft, called Blockeley University, is hosting a virtual commencement for the Cal Class of 2020 on Saturday, May 16 at 2 p.m.

Following the ceremony, avatars can attend a 2-day music festival from Saturday, May 16 to Sunday, May 17.

The UCB graduation ceremony will be held at Blockeley University's Memorial Stadium. Commencement speakers include UC Berkeley's Chancellor Carol Christ, Vice Chancellor Marc Fisher, Mojang's Chief Storyteller Lydia Winters, CEO of Razer Min-Liang Tan, and the co-founder of Twitch, Justin Kan.

College seniors in attendance will be given digitized caps and gowns, with the opportunity to throw up their caps at the end of the ceremony to mimic a traditional graduation experience.

After commencement, Cal students can continue celebrating at a 2-day musical event filled with performances from Cash Cash, Sam Feldt, Vini Vici and more. The party begins at 4 p.m. on May 16 and 11 a.m. on May 17. The festival will also include a charity fundraiser to raise money for COVID-19 relief.

In a recent interview, UC Berkeley Chancellor Carol Christ expressed her thoughts on the digital event. "It's a really challenging time and to just see how they engaged with creating this virtual reality of the campus and staging of graduation is really inspiring to me, and I think inspiring to many people," said Christ.

"I feel like this whole situation is a pretty cliche Berkeley experience where there's a big problem, then we kind of just come in and say, here's a creative solution," said project creator Bjorn Lustic.

While the in-person graduation for Cal students will be postponed to later this year or 2021, this weekend's celebration will provide graduating seniors with a sense of recognition for their accomplishments during the past four years.

For more information on how to attend or stream the virtual commencement, click here.

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