Commencements across the country have been canceled but one single mom made sure she celebrated her son’s milestone. 

Ayanna Tatum, 41, and her son Derrick Williams reportedly moved from New Orleans to Houston after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Considering all they had been through, celebrating his graduation from Baylor University was a must despite COVID-19.
According to PEOPLE, she created the graduation in the backyard “complete with a Baylor University banner and podium with a microphone  — and invited a small group of family and friends to celebrate his big day.”

She told PEOPLE, "He's a really sweet kid and he works really, really hard so whatever I could do — whatever was in my power, whatever was in my budget — I was gonna do it. He deserved that, and so much more."
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Her 22-year-old son added, “I felt so blessed to have had this happen. For me, graduation was always supposed to be about friends and family celebrating, and with the backyard ceremony, I got exactly that. It was more than enough as a substitute for the original graduation ceremony."

Derrick Williams graduated with a psychology degree from Baylor. He is now heading to medical school at UT McGovern in Houston to become an orthopedic surgeon, according to ABC.
See a clip of the graduation ceremony, below: