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College Student Holds Graduation Ceremony On The Subway After Train Stalls

NEW YORK (CBS) — Once again, never rely on public transportation.

A college student threw his own graduation ceremony on the subway after delays caused him to miss the actual ceremony. CBS New York reports.

Cellphone video of student, Jerich Alcantara, celebrating his graduation on a subway car of The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has gone viral.

Instead of walking the stage at Hunter College on the Upper East Side, Alcantara was stuck on a stalled E Train deep under Queens.

So he and his best friend took matters into their own hands, and fellow passengers went along for the ride.

"I spoke loudly to everyone and said to the whole car, 'Thank you guys so much for coming out today. Thank you for coming out and watching me graduate today,'" Alcantara said.

They even played the ultimate graduation song and created a makeshift diploma.

And no, Alcantara was not running late. He actually left his home extra early at 8 a.m. Tuesday for his 10 a.m. ceremony.

"The emergency brakes went off, and the conductors couldn't fix it for like an hour and a half," Alcantara said.

Alcantara said this commute to school took longer than any other train ride he has take in the last four years. What should have been just 40 minutes ended up taking almost four hours.

Alcantara said he will be getting his actual diploma in the mail sometime soon.

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