Subway riders throw party for a graduate stuck on delayed train

Subway riders throw party for a graduate stuck on delayed trainSubway riders throw party for a graduate stuck on delayed trainIn New York City, the most populous city in America, the morning commute is significantly different than it is in other places there are humans - a lot of humans - all around you during the whole trip, which can take hours for some New Yorkers. The jostling of humanity can wear down a commuters soul over time.Even worse The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which runs the extensive subway system, has been having some troubles lately keeping the trains running on time. According to the New York Times,more than 70,000 New Yorkers each month are experiencing subway delays, a number thats risen from the 28,000 delays per month in 2012.In the case ofJerich Marco Alcantara, a subway train malfunctionhad much higher consequences. It caused him to miss his own graduation from nursing school this Tuesday.But the two-hour delay brought the best out of fellow ride rs.Although Alcantaras girlfriendsaid theyleft two hours before the graduation ceremony to arrive early, an E-train delay foiled their good planning. As Alcantara realized he would elend be receivinga degree from the Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing in person, he decided to make an announcement.My commencement was already about an hour in, Alcantara told abc7NY. I felt like lightening the mood and thanked everyone for coming to my graduation. Told them it meant a lot to me, and they applauded it.Subway riders then gathered together to throw him a makeshift graduation, complete with music, awwws and some sniffles of happy tears.(function(d, s, id) var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)0 if (d.getElementById(id)) return js = d.createElement(s) js.id = id js.src = https//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.jsxfbml=1version=v3.1 fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs)(document, script, facebook-jssdk))Alcantara was already wearing the cap and gown- his fellow trapped commuters gave him the pomp and circumstance.His old and new friends on the train improvised with what they had. Instead of handing him a diploma, one of his friends handed him a cell phone where he had createda certificate of good job that read yu r a nurse now maybe. Its not the college presidents hand-signed signature, but that misspelled scribble is as good as graduating with honors when youre stuck on a train.Someone else set the mood byplaying the quintessential graduation song, Good Riddance (Time of Your Life). Others played the role of parent and documented the whole event on their phones to post later on social media.Alcantara was feeling the love so much that he decided to share a digital copy of hisdiploma. If you want a copy of my diploma, turn on AirDrop,Alcantara told the train. This is the modern subway version of taking a picture with the graduate.In the end, hours later, the MTA sent out a rescue train to free the passengers after it couldnt fix the train malfunction. By then, these strangers had bonded together to make one students day a little better.Its a story of a terrible commute that turned out to be a sweet one due to the sheer positive intention of everyone involved. Sometimes, yourfellow subway riders are performance artists unleashing crickets and hell on a train. And sometimes, theyre good Samaritans who will help you makea good graduation memory. And thats New York City in a nutshell.