The Best of Times and Worst of Times
By Michele Walsky | Assistant Editor
Photo courtesy of MWCC
Congratulations graduates! May 16th is looming near and while the “Pomp and Circumstance” march silhouettes your success, none of this would be possible without the smooth orchestration of the college staff. Yet, even flawless plans go awry.
From academic advisors, alumni and Dean Jason Zelesky, the choreographing A to Z’s involve everyone in between. According to Assistant Dean of Students Greg Clement, it starts with the procession of paperwork in the records office. From there grades are finalized by faculty, and about 100 volunteers collect tickets, control crowds, guide guests, help groom graduates and arrange the reception.
“It takes a village,” Clement said. “The whole college is involved. Administration assistant Sarah Savoy orders the caps and gowns and helps dress the graduates. The media service sets up live streaming. Marketing gets information out for press releases. Dean Zelesky’s committee sets up tents, chairs and porta-potties. They make sure there are enough parking spaces and guests in tents have enough water.”
Clement gave kudos to maintenance for “making the campus look terrific.” He also credited dining services for setting up a tasty spread and Academic Affairs for ordering the music. “We have a mini orchestra and there are bagpipers who lead the graduates in,” he said.
Graduation rehearsal the day before helps ensure perfection. “Counting is very important,” Clement stressed. Because gowns billow, he said it is hard to judge how many graduates are in a line, so ushers have to count each student into rows.
“There’s always a student running extremely late so we leave extra room to sneak a graduate in,” Clement said. “It’s inevitable. A car breaks down, things happen.”
He also recalled a graduation gaffe from four years ago.
“Commencement starts at 6 o’clock on the dot,” Clement recalled. “Former President Asquino was a stickler for starting on time. Doors opened at 5 p.m. Reserve seating, VIP seating and bleachers were full.”
At one minute to six, Clement was about to lead the graduates in when the fire alarm went off. Students, staff and 1500 plus guests had to evacuate the gym for about seven minutes due to a small dust fire on the roof, he said.
While congregating outside, the committee told the guests to remember where they were sitting. With such a crowd, Clement was doubtful and he envisioned a time-consuming catastrophe filing back in.
“But it was a commencement miracle!” he said. “Everyone remembered and the ceremony re-started within fifteen minutes.”
It isn’t possible to name every nuance in the labyrinth of labor but without all hands involved, success wouldn’t exist. In order to get that degree in your hand a “Petition to Graduate” must be submitted.
This brief form is found on the college’s website or in the records office. This is where Rebecca Forest, Assistant Dean of Records and Institutional Research, comes into the picture. She perpetually provides Marketing with the names of graduating students to add to the program pamphlet. She works with Joyce Maynard who does a final sweep on Degree Works to make sure credits are met and then Forest initiates communication with students who have not yet petitioned.
Besides the bog of paperwork, Forest is hands-on during graduation with fists full of safety and bobby pins, helping graduates affix regalia and mortar boards. She said there is an instructional video under the Graduation tab on the iConnect website to help at home.
“The hoods are the most difficult,” Forest said. “It hooks into a button and comes to a point in the back.”
Forest also assists in lining 300 to 350 students two by two into stanchions categorized by major.
“It gets crazy,” she laughed. “I’m herding cats.”
But the process is not too crazy because the college has it down to a science.
As students line up to receive their diplomas, Forest makes sure they have their name cards ready, which they pick up in the graduates’ tent. She keeps extra pens and index cards in her pocket just in case any are left behind.
“Students have their official names printed on the degree, which is picked up a week later,” Forest said. “But they can write the name they’re known by on the card.” For challenging names, Forest suggested students write the phonetic spelling underneath to help the Vice President pronounce them correctly.
All these preparations converge to create a magical evening.
“It’s a beautiful ceremony,” Clement said. “It honors the graduates and really, it’s symbolic to all the different journeys. Everyone has their own success story and it’s great to see their accomplishments.”
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