Behind the scenes
It’s fun to have a behind the scenes view of big events on campus like Commencement. On Friday, I took lunch to three Commencement office staff members, who were offsite creating the ticket packets for the graduates. Imagine a mountain of various tickets - parking passes, Baccalaureate tix, Commencement tix, brunch and lunch tix, etc. - all spread out on a floor and one by one we create a packet for each graduate.
The phones are ringing off the hook for Commencement. Mostly parents with questions - what should I wear? how early should I arrive? where are the best seats? All good questions, all with a lot of merit. Unfortunately there is no way to have a standard answer. Some parents dress to the nines (suit and tie) - but others wear something cooler since they will presumably be sitting in the heat for 3 hours. “Early” is in the eye of the beholder - my own parents arrived at 6 am when the Quad opened; other parents stroll in after 8. There is no ‘right’ answer.
Today is very windy and its a good thing the Commencement tent has not gone up yet. It would not be a good thing to have it blow over (which it had done once in the past, I am told).
And for all who read this, please say a prayer that we have good weather and no threat of rain. No one wants to move the ceremony to the Joel.