As 1,113 Seattle U seniors step outside to face life after college life this June, the 2009 commencement ceremony moves indoors.
The 2009 undergraduate commencement ceremony will start at the KeyArena this year at 9:30 a.m. Sunday, June 14.
After four years of holding the ceremony at Qwest Field, the decision to change the event's location arose largely out of the desire for a smaller venue, said Kerry Keller-Ash, the administrative assistant to the university provost.
Qwest Field, which seats about 40,000, "wasn't really the intimate setting we hoped for this year," says Keller-Ash.
Last year, 1,072 seniors attended commencement. As of last Friday, 1,009 seniors have confirmed they will attend the ceremony this year and actually walk across the stage at graduation, while 104 students will be receiving their diplomas but will not attend their graduation ceremony.
The percent of graduating seniors attending commencement this year, however, is slightly higher than last year's ratio. In 2008, 89 percent of seniors attended commencement. This year, 91 percent plan to go to the ceremony.
Approximately 14,000 family and friends of 2009 graduates have also RSVPed to the event. All Seattle U faculty members are invited to attend commencement, though the number of professors attending is not yet confirmed, Keller-Ash says.
Weather concerns also prompted commencement organizers to move the ceremony to the KeyArena.
"We've had good luck at Qwest, but there was a possibility of rain this year," Keller-Ash says. "So an indoor venue was always preferred."
"The planning last year was less detail oriented because commencement had been done before at Qwest," Keller-Ash says. "Everyone knew what to expect."
Another new feature of 2009's ceremony will be the music. Violinist Quinton Morris, a music professor in the Fine Arts Department will play with a small ensemble during the processional and recessional, Keller-Ash says.
Aside from the venue change and Morris' music, this year's ceremony differs slightly from last year's commencement.
"We're working with the same budget as last year," she says. "There hasn't been a concession made to the economy; things were in the works far before that was a factor."
Despite the economic hardship looming in many seniors' futures, Keller-Ash adds, the commencement committee still hopes to make the ceremony a day of celebration the class of 2009 can long remember.
"There haven't been any changes made to the ceremony in light of [the economy], and I don't know that it's appropriate for the ceremony to change," she says. "Graduates this year have worked just as hard for their degrees this year as graduates last year."
Senior nursing major Christine Topinka will speak at this year's undergraduate commencement ceremony. A transfer student from Green River Community College and a mother of two elementary school-age girls, Topinka says she will highlight her experiences as a non-traditional student in her commencement address.
"I've worked really hard for my education, sometimes working two jobs so I can stay in school," she says. "I'm excited to share that at commencement-that we can still go on to accomplish great things no matter where we end up."
Topinka serves as the student coordinator for the Office of Multicultural Affairs, or OMA, connections leadership program. She is also a co-founder of the Blue Mountains Project, a community building organization focusing on reproductive education, adult literacy and job training in the Blue Mountains of Jamaica.
"Christine is collaborative and leads by providing a really remarkable example," said Monica Nixon, OMA's director of student development. "She pushes herself beyond her own limits and limits that others may have for her."
Although 2009 grads face a bleak job market after they leave KeyArena next Sunday, Topinka remains hopeful.
"I'm going to change the world. I know I am," she said.
For the class of 2009, she added, commencement only marks the beginning.
"We keep growing; we keep building experiences."
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