After Tornado Alabama Graduates Finally Walk in Cap and Gown

About 3,300 University of Alabama graduates have finally gotten the chance to walk in cap and gown, more than three months after a tornado hit Tuscaloosa and forced their commencement to be postponed.

The university held graduation exercises for its class of 2011 on Saturday and Friday night. The school awarded 4,770 degrees in all during three ceremonies, with about 70 percent for students who were to graduate in May but had to wait because of the deadly twister that struck near campus on April 27.

Several hundred people attended a candelight memorial service Friday night for the six students who died in the storm. All six received posthumous degrees. CNN reports:

"This weekend's graduation helped bring closure, students said, and will help them start anew.

Friday night, the names of the six students who were killed were said aloud at a candlelight vigil on campus.

Scott Atterton, Danielle Downs, Ashley Harrison, Melanie Nicole Mixon, Morgan Sigler and Marcus Smith.

Their families watched as former student government President James Fowler laid down a red rose for each of their loved ones."

The EF-4 twister that ravaged Tuscaloosa was among 62 tornadoes that hit Alabama on April 27, leaving dozens dead.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.