Dear Life Section,
I can’t find anything about what families are supposed to do for commencement. Where exactly do I go? Is there anything off-limits? How long are ceremonies? Please help!
Sincerely,
Frantic Family Member
Dear Frantic Family Member,
I totally understand–between navigating WSU parking craziness and getting to the graduation site on time, commencement day can be an enormously stressful time. If you look in the wrong place, your information can easily be incorrect and you and your family could find yourselves in a mess of trouble.
First of all, ground yourself with the absolute basics–the when, where and how. We all know graduation is this Saturday, May 3 at Beasley Coliseum. Depending on the college your Coug is graduating from, the starting times can be* are 8 a.m., 12 p.m. or 3:30 p.m.
To figure out which slot their award ceremony is under, just ask your graduating Coug! They would know better than anyone. If you want to double-check, however, visit WSU’s website on commencement scheduling for a list of colleges and their times.
The “how” can be a little trickier. Beasley Coliseum is a big arena and has quite a few entrances that could be closed during the ceremony. Fortunately, it is very simple–the easiest entrance to find will be the main south entrance, where you might have entered for sporting events. The entrance, across from the Student Recreation Center will also be open for guests.
If in doubt, just follow the crowd! They will lead you in the right direction more likely than not.
Now that we have the when, where and how, we are already halfway to smooth sailing for this year’s commencement. The real infamous nightmare is before graduation even begins: parking.
With the onslaught of people coming to graduation, arriving early is always better in order to skip the busy traffic on campus. A complete map of available parking lots can be found on WSU’s commencement website.
For guests with disabilities, there are many accessible parking spots located within Beasley Coliseum’s lot. If you enter through the North*lowercase entrance off of Orchard Drive, there should be plenty of available spots as well as a drop-off point.
If you find yourself a little further than you are able to walk, or you want to skip the parking insanity completely, you have a couple of options. Pullman Transit will still be operating on two routes and has various stops on and off campus. A full list of times and stops for the available routes can be found on Pullman Transit’s website.
There is also the option of a shuttle service specially for commencement, which will take guests to and from Beasley Coliseum between 8 and 10 a.m., and 12 and 1:15 p.m. The shuttle will pick up in the back parking lot of the Alumni Center, which can be seen on a map found on the commencement website.
Hopefully, that saves the question of transportation and parking, arguably the most stressful parts of big events like graduation. With everything answered, you can easily attend commencement without any issue, but before we close out, there are a few more tips I want to mention.
Similar to sporting events, this event enforces a clear bag policy, so plan ahead when bringing your gifts and items for grads. More information on the policy and permitted sizes of bags can be found on WSU’s commencement website.
If you or a family member is unable to attend, graduation will also be live-streamed on YouTube. Links are found on WSU’s livestream website. The full program, including the names of graduates and order of events, is also fully viewable online for both those in attendance and those watching from home.
With that, you are perfectly set up to attend this spring’s commencement. If you have any other questions or want to double check your information, the FAQ page on the commencement website is incredibly helpful.
Happy graduation!
Sincerely,
The Life Section
