Graduation or the World Cup? Students react to conflicting events 

Graduation day on June 11 will come with another major event happening at the same time, the World Cup. 

With graduation starting at 9:30 a.m. and Mexico scheduled to play at 12 p.m., how are students planning to handle the overlap? 

Some said they would stay through the entire graduation, while others admitted they might leave early, and some had no knowledge of this.

The FIFA World Cup is one of the biggest sporting events in the world, bringing together countries every four years and drawing billions of viewers globally. 

For Mexican fans especially, soccer is deeply tied to culture and family, with the Mexican national team holding one of the most passionate fan bases in international soccer. 

The team has long been a source of national pride for supporters. Since 1994, Mexico has consecutively qualified for the World Cup, making this 2026 event its ninth qualification since then. 

Pallavy Noeun, a mathematics major student, who will be graduating said she still plans on attending the full ceremony, despite the match happening at the same time. 

“I’ll be staying the whole time. I didn’t even know about this,” she said. “Honestly, I’m not a big soccer fan, but I know a majority of people will probably go.”

Others had a different reaction. Student Matthew Hernandez who plans to attend graduation to support a friend said, “Oh, I am definitely not going to the graduation anymore. I didn’t know they were playing.”

Even with the World Cup being one of the biggest sporting events in the world, the students who were interviewed around campus seemed far more focused on graduation than the match itself.

Graduate Adrian Aguiniga was especially blunt about the team’s chances during the qualifying round, when he said, “There is no hope in Mexico, they always let you down.”

His friend, who’s also a student, added, “Yeah, we are Colombian, so we are definitely not rooting for them. All love though,” Jacob Machado said. 

With these sentiments, Aguiniga will be staying for his entire graduation and so will Machado to support him. They will not be watching the match. 

Many students interviewed either had no idea Mexico was playing that day or said they had not even thought about the scheduling conflict until it was brought up in conversation.

While some students joked about leaving early or losing faith in the Mexican national team, others saw graduation as the bigger moment. 

In the end, whether students are planning to watch the game or walk across the stage uninterrupted, both events are meaningful, representing tradition and community.