Riccardo Silva Stadium was home to FIU graduates and their friends and family this month. Photo by Margi Rentis.

April 2021 in photos: Commencement in person, Roarthon and a labor of love

April 29, 2021 at 10:40am

At last, Panther friends and family were able to come together, following COVID-19 safety guidelines, and enjoy a live commencement ceremony for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic started. The university also hosted a dance marathon to raise money for a local children's hospital. And a public health professor opened a new art exhibit where the stories of AIDS victims are told straight from the heart.

Here are some of our favorite moments from April, as captured by FIU photographer Margi Rentis.

The Roarthon Committee Morale team members perform their traditional line dance. The annual dance marathon was a hybrid event this year. It raised $56,700 for a local Nicklaus Children's Hospital. Photo by Margi Rentis.

The university capped off spring commencement celebrations with in person ceremonies on April 24 and April 25. FIU held six different ceremonies at the football stadium and saw more than 4,500 walk across the stage. Photo by Margi Rentis.

Social work professor and Honors College fellow Shed Boren, dressed in the same shirt he wore to Miami's annual White Party nearly three decades ago, stands in front of panels from the AIDS Memorial Quilt. The latter are among hundreds of artifacts he assembled for the exhibit A Matter of Time: Examining Forty Year of AIDS While Living Through a Pandemic, on display at the Coral Gables Museum through July 18. Photo by Margi Rentis.

Check out our full story to learn more about Boren's exhibit.