Issue date: 5/4/09 Section: News

Graduates prepare to approach the commencement stage during last year's ceremony on May 3 in Lantz Arena. This year's graduation will take place on Saturday. (File photo / The Daily Eastern News)

As the academic school year finally comes to a close, many seniors are anxious to participate in the commencement ceremony on Saturday in Lantz Arena.

This year, the Alumni Services Office organized commencement and has implemented some changes to make it easier for the students who are eligible to participate in the ceremony.

Jonathan McKenzie, assistant director of Alumni Services, said this process has been a learning experience for the alumni office.

"Quite honestly, we are looking for things we can change," he said. "We have already made a variety of changes."

McKenzie said they have moved everything to the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union to make an effort to make it easier for the graduates.

Cap and gown pick-up will be in the Charleston/Mattoon Room from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday and Friday, and ticket distribution is between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Wednesday through Friday in the Arcola/Tuscola Room.

For now, students are only going to receive seven tickets, but McKenzie said by the end of the week they will know how many extras they can hand out.

"So all the students will be sent to one location," he said. "We stretched the ticket distribution over three days in hopes that by the middle of the week we know how many extras we can give out. By Friday for sure we know how many extra tickets we can hand out."

Martha Hackler, commencement coordinator, said she hopes by now, everyone who is participating in the commencement ceremony has ordered their cap and gown.

"They can still do it if they haven't," she said.

The original deadline to order caps and gowns was April 4, but Hackler said if some students have not done so yet, they could go on the commencement page on Eastern's Web site and get the phone number to do so.

"As long as they have applied to graduate or walk due to exceptionality," said Hackler.

Exceptionality is when someone is graduating in the summer or fall and has the option to participate in the spring commencement ceremony because of the amount of credits they have at that time.

In terms of someone who is waiting until the last minute to participate in commencement, McKenzie said they are not going to deny anyone the opportunity to walk.

"Our job is to coordinate the ceremony itself, but students would have had to apply to graduate so they need something out there," he said.

When it comes to students who procrastinate for several deadlines, Hackler said a majority of the students do not wait for the last minute.

"There will always be the ones that are last minute," she said. "That will happen until probably Friday, but the biggest part is four-fifths of kids that are eligible do all the things they need to do in a timely manner."

On Saturday, there will be four commencement ceremonies for the various colleges.

McKenzie said the number of students graduating this spring semester has been fairly consistent.

"In the spring, we graduate anywhere between 1,500 to 1,800," he said. "It is always somewhere in those numbers."

McKenzie said organizers and volunteers for the various ceremonies only have little more than an hour for people to leave the building for the next group of people to come in.

"Folks should anticipate some traffic congestion around the campus and just anticipate and be prepared for people to take tickets at the door," he said. "It may be a little slower at some points to get everyone seated properly so we are just asking for everyone's patience."

Hackler said they try to keep the ceremonies no longer than an hour and 45 minutes.

"It depends on how many graduates there are and how many special things we have going on" she said. "So between an hour and 30 minutes and two hours. That will give us an hour to get one crowd out and one crowd in."

Hackler said she has been the organizer for the commencement ceremony for 13 years and said it is a busy day, but it is nice.

"I think it is really important for any student that has worked hard that they should be recognized for their accomplishments because it is a big deal," she said. "It is not something you do every day."


Jessica Leggin can be reached at 581-7942 or at jmleggin@eiu.edu.

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