CLEVELAND — After a year of on and off remote learning due to the pandemic, Cleveland State University was able to host their 2021 commencement ceremony in person at Progressive Field.

Jenice Willis graduated on Saturday with her master's of education and school counseling. 

She said her family has been her main support.

“Motivating texts, phone calls. They have just been extremely supportive throughout this entire time, so I’m grateful for that,” Willis said.

Her grandmother, Betty McNear, said she was excited to be at the ceremony with Willis. 

“Wow. I can’t explain it. There’s no words for it," McNear said. "This is amazing. It’s an amazing moment. You watch them from preschool to kindergarten through high school through college.”

Willis's family never let her give up when the pandemic and constant Zoom classes stressed her out. 

“A lot of the time she would say 'this is it' and I said 'just for today, you go in the basement for today, by tomorrow morning I want to see you back out,'” McNear said. 

She helped her family too.

“I’m an educator," said her father, Justin Willis. "And I was told by an administrator that he thought I was a pretty good educator, but then he worked with my daughter. . .  so he said, 'you know what, you’re not as good as she’s going to be because she’s great.' She was actually able to help me out through some struggles during the pandemic with virtual remote learning.”

The rough year of learning online has a silver lining and that makes this grad's accomplishments even more worth it.

“It’s been chaotic to say the very least," Willis said. "A good challenge, but hard for the most part. I’m excited to be here and be done.”