Student holds graduation ceremony on underground carriage after train delays

A nursing student in New York decided to hold his own graduation ceremony on the subway after being stuck underground for hours.

Jerich Alcantara was due to graduate from Hunter College in Manhattan on Tuesday morning. His usual commute, however, took four hours longer than usual. The technical difficulties of the E-train, which runs from Ground Zero to the suburb of Queens, were not fixed until long after the graduation ceremony had ended.

“After 45 minutes I knew I was already late,” said Mr. Alcantara, although he was not dispirited. “It looked like everyone was upset, tired of everything. So I decided I’d just thank everyone for being there for my graduation, that it meant a whole lot to me.”

The student’s brazen declaration was met with jubilation from the packed carriage. “They all just started cheering,” he said.

A short video posted on Facebook by Nadiya Afzal shows Mr. Alcantara’s friend Bobby presenting him with a fake diploma on his mobile phone. “He shook hands and everything” said the newly graduated nurse “as if he was a dean.”