Meet the Students Who Are Wearing Sneakers to Their Graduations

Why 5 college grads are shirking tradition for their love of shoes.

Most of us are taught to dress classy and wear elegant clothing to special occasions—especially for graduation. However, that’s not stopping any of these students from breaking the tradition. They feel that they’ve put in the hours, hard work, and tuition money the past four years, and should be able to wear what they want.

To them, it’s all about making a statement. This is their chance to go out in grand fashion. Since the majority is going to be wearing simple dress shoes, it only makes sense to lace up a fresh pair of sneakers. This is an opportunity to show off in one of the most important events of their lives.

While to each his own stands to be true with every one of them, they all share a common interest in choosing a special pair. To many, it may not be a big deal in deciding what to wear, but for us it means everything when it comes what’s on our feet. These students all have aspirations and goals to reach after moving their hanging tassels from the right to left side of their graduation caps. They may not know what lies ahead , but at least they're not college dropouts.

Name: Connor Ford
Major: Communications, Concentration in Sports Broadcasting
School: Marist College
Sneaker: Air Jordan 3 “Black Cement”
IG: @connorfordd

Why I'm wearing sneakers: I’ve always been a big fan of 3s. I saw Kobe actually come out this week and said the 3s are his favorite shoe too. I just like the overall, the elephant print on the toe and on the heel—just the overall feel of it. It’s more of a casual-type shoe I feel. I just like all the colors and how it comes together in a dark shoe. The 3 is probably my favorite Jordan silhouette out of all them. It’s a black shoe, so it goes well with the gown.

How I expect my parents to react: I don’t know how they’ll feel. My grandparents might be a little confused. I’ll tell my mom like, “Yo ma like listen, I just finished. I graduated. That’s enough. You shouldn’t be worried about what I’m wearing on my feet. I did it already like god.”

What I want to do after I graduate: Right now just trying to find the right gig—try not to get sucked into something I don’t love. You gotta make some money, so we’ll see what happens. Not too-too worried about it—still young. I like to say everybody else thinks people have their shit together, but we’ll figure it out as we go.

"It’s a black shoe, so it goes well with the gown."

Name: Jon Serrano
Major: Journalism - Concentration in Sports Journalism
School: Hofstra University
Sneaker: Air Jordan 11 “Space Jam”
IG: @j.s.121

Why I'm wearing sneakers: I go to school in Long Island. There are not a lot of people there into sneakers. They might see what’s on my feet and they’ll be like, “Why isn’t he wearing dress shoes?” They might look at me a little weird, but I don’t care. It’s my last day of school. I’m graduating. I’m going out on top of the world. I could do whatever the hell I want. The first pair of sneakers, the Space Jams 11s, I bought with my own money back in high school. I still have them to this day since my sophomore year. I wear them all over the place. I don’t care that they’re yellow. It’s like a sign of pride that they’re yellow—that they’ve been through everything with me. That’s the reason why I’m going to them to graduation. Complete a full circle, from high school to the end of college.

How I expect my parents to react: I haven’t told them yet. My mom is probably going to say it’s cool, but I know deep down she’s going be like, “Nah.” She wants me to wear dress shoes.

What I want to do after I graduate: I’m already applying, but I’ll keep looking and looking. I plan to look for a job either writing about sneakers and style or venture further into the sports journalism field.

"They might look at me a little weird, but I don’t care."

Name: Jack Taeschler
Major: Business Finance
School: Marist College
Sneaker: Air Jordan 5 “Grape”
IG: @jtesh22

Why I'm wearing sneakers: I’ve always been big into sneakers. One of the things that I always try to do is stand out from everyone else. People are wearing standard Air Force 1s and adidas, stuff that was kinda boring to me. I tried to be a little more extravagant and flashy in the stuff that I wore. It feels good getting compliments on your sneakers. I was actually nominated for best dressed in high school, so that filled the ego a little bit. It’s something I take pride in, the way I dress, so definitely wouldn’t do it any other way.

How I expect my parents to react: I’ve brought it up to them. Obviously they’re opposed. I’m 22 years old, so if I want to wear sneakers to graduation, they’re not going to turn me from that. I’ve mentioned it to them. We’ll see what happens.

What I want to do after I graduate: I’m graduating as a finance major from Marist College. I’ve actually been interning the past 3 – 4 months at Indeed.com. I’m proud to announce I have accepted a full-time position there after graduation. I’m taking a Euro trip, right after graduation before I start work—really looking forward to that.

"One of the things that I always try to do is stand out from everyone else."

Name: Joshua Cabrera
Major: Economics
School: York College, City University of New York
Sneaker: Air Max 1 “Patta”—Chlorophyll
IG: @justcallmejoshh

How I got into sneakers: The most interesting part about sneakers is the many styles and colors they have. Looking back to my eleventh birthday, that’s the first time I got a pair of Jordans. Before then my mom would just buy me shoes at Payless, Tommy [Hilfiger], and Ralph Lauren. Back then I didn’t care at all. I didn’t know what sneakers were. Looking back, I think one of my favorite pairs from the Payless selection were the Spiderman ones—that had the zipper in the middle. They had a Batman one too—that had straps too. I thought the zipper and the straps were cool.

Why I'm wearing sneakers: At my eighth grade graduation I wanted to wear my [Jordan] Six Rings—the white and black colorway. They reminded me of the Concord 11s. As we were leaving the house I put them on, my mom noticed last minute that I was wearing them. Thank god I had the dress shoes in my backpack. I put those on for graduation. At that point I didn’t manage to wear them, but I did see a couple of people doing it, which let me down in a way. For this year, I definitely want to wear sneakers.

How I expect my parents to react: My mom is just happy that I’m graduating, but I think she thinks I’ll be wearing something fancy—some dress shoes. I’m going to let her down and wear some sneakers.

What I want to do after I graduate: I’m doing economics right now. The funny thing is I started as a biology major, then accounting, then I moved to economics. That all happened because I started taking internships in different places. My plans for the future are to hopefully have a job where I’m interning now because of my taste in sneakers, clothes, and fashion overall.

"My mom is just happy that I’m graduating."

Name: Michael Simmons
Major: Communications - Digital Communications, Information, and Media minor
School: Rutgers University—New Brunswick
Sneaker: Air Jordan 11 “72-10”
IG: @mik3yslayz

Why I'm wearing sneakers: I love getting compliments. I’m competitive. I like to look a lot better than a lot of people. I like to have nice shoes on my feet. I feel it’s common to rock sneakers. They’re becoming more classy. They’re definitely transitioning into a new phase where Jordans and other shoes can be considered classy dress shoes—to a certain extent.

How I expect my parents to react: I never really told them about that. They actually don’t really know too much about my sneaker hobby. They know I like them. They know I collect a few, but they definitely don’t know what extent it’s at. I haven’t really talked to them about it.

What I want to do after I graduate: Communications is my major and digital communication, information, and media is my minor. I’ve been into marketing, advertising, just communications in general. I don’t have anything set in stone just yet, but definitely looking to getting involved in something media, communications, marketing, etc.