The graduation ceremony is not just the culmination of years of hard work and dedication for students; it’s also a finely oiled machine that needs to funnel about 1,900 people in and out of the Recreation-Fitness Center in a timely fashion.

Cynthia Good Kaufmann,  director of planning and events, is in charge of logistics, but was keen to mention that the ceremony is put together by “a bunch of departments coming together.” Coordination between departments such as the Registrar, the Dean’s office, Comm-mar and the Events office as well as cooperation from students is necessary for a successful ceremony.

Brian Mast, director of facilities, also plays a key role in the festivities. After sixteen years of working together on this event, Good Kaufmann and Mast have a tried and true formula that doesn’t change much from year to year.

 ”When it gets to this point in the year,” Mast said, “we have a review meeting and talk about all the things, and everybody knows what their job is and when they need to have it done by, and it runs pretty smoothly.”

One of the greatest challenges of the event is figuring out how to seat students, faculty and spectators. Prior to COVID, attendees squeezed into the two sets of bleachers, with some seating on the floor. Nowadays, seating is done entirely on the gym floor. Rows of chairs are placed three feet apart from each other (four feet for graduates,) while the chairs themselves are placed six inches apart.

Setup begins with sweeping the gym. Since indoor sports seasons that need the gym are over, chairs are placed directly on the floor. The way the chairs are set up was designed by Mast, with the design being implemented by lining up a series of strings that indicate where rows are supposed to be.

“My role is the gym set up,” Mike Malott, general maintenance supervisor said. “This means working [with] other GC departments and outside contractors to see things are in place for commencement.  Things like the stage, banners, chairs and so on. For some of these things, I give direction to others on where they should go, and some of them we, as the general maintenance department, set ourselves.”

As much preparation goes into this event, there are still factors outside of anyone’s control; that is, the weather, and, for GC specifically, the trains.

“ So far, I’ve been able to stop the train,” Good Kaufmann joked.

While outside factors may impact the ceremony, cooperation from students and attendees is a controllable factor that can help things run smoothly. Good Kaufmann mentioned the importance of people arriving on time; the goal is to seat people by 2:45, with the procession beginning at 2:55. She also noted that the scene after the ceremony is often pretty chaotic.

“Pick a tree or the volleyball court or somewhere where you’re gonna meet your parents afterwards on the north side of the RFC,” she said, “because it is chaos.”

While graduation is a massive undertaking, Mast described working on the ceremony as an “honor.”

“You worked hard to get to this point,” he said, “and it took blood, sweat, tears and sacrifice to make this happen both on the graduates’ part and on their families and supporters’ part. We wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you students. We’re all here in service of getting you to that day.”

Good Kaufmann described it as a “labor of love.”

“ I’m just excited to put it on for grads,” she said. “I’ve seen most kids for about four years and it’s just fun to see them walk across the stage [with] their parents there. It’s pretty special.”