On Tuesday, March 23, 2021, the undergraduate commencement ceremony for the 2020 academic year was held as the first formal event at the venue of the New Hiyoshi Commemorative Hall since its completion in March 2020. A total of 6,189 graduates (217 correspondence course students) from 10 undergraduate faculties celebrated this new departure.
In order to give the utmost priority to the health and safety of graduates and prevent the spread of COVID-19 (coronavirus disease), event participation was limited to graduates and certain related parties and held in two parts, with a morning and afternoon session, in addition to videos of the proceedings being distributed on the web.
The ceremony began with a CD playback of the Alma Mater "The Juku-ka," and following Provost Tojiro Aoyama's Graduating Class Report, President Akira Haseyama conferred awards and diplomas and gave his Welcome Address, with words of encouragement to Keio's newest graduates. During his speech, President Haseyama said that, even if one encounters unexpected crises over the course of a long life, one should accept and face up to one's fears, and rather than waiting for a helping hand to be extended in your direction, take the initiative in being the person who extends that helping hand. Next, a representative of the Keio University alumni, Toshiaki Egashira, Special Advisor to Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co., Ltd., offered words of encouragement and congratulation to the graduates as part of the morning session, while Yoshie Ota, Former Director of the Women's Bureau at the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, did the same during the afternoon session. The alumni greetings were followed by valedictory addresses on behalf of graduates by Nozomu Ohara, a student in his fourth year at the Faculty of Law, in the morning session, and in the afternoon, by Shoko Asano, a fourth-year student at the Faculty of Environment and Information Studies. The presentation of an inventory of donations from the 1996 Mita-kai Alumni Association to celebrate 25 years since their graduation and an address by Kanji Wakunaga the chairperson of the organizing committee for the 25th anniversary celebrations followed.
In addition, in both the morning and afternoon sessions, conferral ceremonies for honor students were held in the Symposium Space of the Raiosha.
Under the warm spring sunshine, new graduates enjoyed the climactic moments of their university life over the course of a day which witnessed joyous reunions of close friends and the taking of commemorative photographs.