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It's called Aggie Launch Day, and each of the 25 athletic squads at UC Davis will say bon voyage to their graduating seniors during a day-long online event on Thursday.

Designed to spotlight student-athletes' academic success, on-field accomplishments and post-graduate plans, Aggie Launch Day becomes especially important to some programs that saw their winter seasons cut short — or spring sports that barely got off the ground.

"We were challenged to think of what we could do, given the environment, in lieu of a traditional graduation celebration," explained Danielle Shank, UC Davis' assistant athletics director for marketing, ticket sales and strategy.

"We wanted to make sure our seniors feel special … but also really share the story of what's happening next."

In place for three years now, the Aggie EVO System is a multi-faceted career-path enhancer that focuses on preparing preparing student-athletes for success in the real world upon graduation from the fifth-ranked public school in the nation.

Starting at 9 a.m. at AggieLaunchDay.com, the nine-hour presentation will combine the website event with social media (Twitter, Facebook and Instagram).

From football to equestrian, each UC Davis sports program will provide unique presentations in sending off their seniors.

"Our marketing people had the fantastic idea that we ought to, more publicly, tell the stories of our student-athletes who are graduating and launching into some fantastic things," says UC Davis Director of Athletics Kevin Blue.

"We're very committed to student outcomes through our Aggie EVO program and we should celebrate some of these very successful launches."

Among the many student-athletes served well by EVO is the lone men's tennis senior, Daniel Landa.

Thanks in part to a pathway carved out by EVO, the San Francisco native graduated in three years and is a member of Merrill Lynch's Financial Adviser Development Program.

"Daniel is just a great kid; just an achiever in all aspects of life," points out Aggie men's tennis coach Eric Steidlmeyer, who noted that Landa, a walk-on, was "an inspiration to those around him" as he battled injury yet endured.

Landa's journey from St. Ignatius Prep to Davis will be one of many stories presented come Thursday.

"Launch Day is a great way to recognize the seniors … how EVO has helped and where they might be going," says Aggie swim coach Barbara Jahn.

The veteran mentor — 45 years and counting at UC Davis — shares head-coach duties with Pete Motekaitis. Jahn pointed to a couple of her eight graduating seniors who will be featured in her program's segment.

Roseville's Macayla Thomas will be armed with her engineering degree, Redding product Jamie Pincin is off to veterinary school while global-disease major Olivia Smith of Santa Barbara is about "to hit the pavement to try to conquer this (pandemic) we have," says Jahn, adding that all three have gotten a handle on real-world challenges through Aggie EVO.

The celebration kicks off at 9 a.m. with a welcoming video from UC Davis Chancellor Gary S. May and Blue.

Shank, who thanked her multimedia team of coordinator Jody Steliga, C.K. Hicks and Garrett Slater for doing "all of the finishing touches," promises that the presentations will be diverse.

For example, the equestrian team has a video that plays off the Full House television theme song. Men's basketball presents underclassmen talking about how important seniors Joe Mooney, Stefan Gonzalez, Matt Neufeld and Rogers Printup were in elevating the play and character of those remaining.

The Big West Tournament was underway when the men's and women's basketball seasons were cut short on the Thursday before the championship weekend.

For both squads, Aggie Launch Day also provides perspective on a season without closure.

Shank and Blue hope the Thursday event will become an annual gathering. However, without in-person graduation ceremonies this year, Shank sees Aggie Launch Day as having added importance.

"(UC Davis) families throughout the country and world can be part of this," Shank says. "It plays into the family and community feel that we have here in Davis."

Adds Blue, "I think we still would have done this, even without the impact of COVID-19. If it's successful on Thursday, I anticipate us doing this every year.

"I think we have built a very important, and successful, program. However, we are still learning about the most effective ways to efficiently — and in a leveraged way — positively impact the outcomes of our students. We're continuing to improve it on a yearly basis.

"I expect EVO in five years will be more effective and will look somewhat different than it does today," Blue concludes.