With Commencement day fast approaching, there is some updated information that you need to know to make your big day as stress free and memorable as possible. 

To assist in accurately pronouncing every name that is called during graduation, Sonoma State will use a company called Marching Order. The company has been around since 2003 and is the industry leader when it comes to making graduation easier for the people who are putting on the ceremony. An email has been sent out to graduates from [email protected] to register for their specific ceremony. Each graduate will be sent their own specific link in order to register to prevent the mix-up between names. 

“2020 was a virtual ceremony, and this year will be in person as it has been since 2022. We will also have 3 ceremonies over the course of one day,” Senior Director of Operations Caroline Neyman said. 

Set up will begin the week of the event and includes set up of the stage, signage, tents, banners and over 2000 chairs set up on the lawn. Clean up begins on the Monday after Commencement and will usually last between two and five days. 

“I am very excited to graduate, but I am also nervous for new beginnings,” 2024 graduate Cassandra Garcia said. “I love Sonoma State and as a transfer student I wish I had experienced the school for longer, but I am ready to take on life after college.” 

Due to graduation being an environmentally impacted event there won’t be any physical-paper programs available at Commencement. Instead there will be QR codes posted around the Green Music Center on display stands for guests to scan and access the program via their device. For graduates that still want a physical version of the program, a copy will be mailed to them with their diploma a few months after the ceremony. 

Even though parking and transportation during large events like commencement is usually a hassle, Sonoma State has a plan in place in order to displace traffic. “We have a multi-tiered traffic plan that is used for all large-scale events,”Neyman said. “We work with the city of Rohnert Park to adjust the timing of the lights to allow for smoother exits. Besides Commencement, there are a number of large events at the Green Music Center so we regularly address crowds of this size.”

It is important to show up early for commencement, but not too early because it could cause more traffic then there needs to be. Arriving too early could mean arriving at the same time a ceremony is getting out and that conflict could cause more traffic. “If able to walk, consider parking in Lot A, Lot E or Lot F to allow for easier arrival and departure,” Neyman said. “Plan to arrive around one hour prior to the ceremony, arriving too soon means that the previous ceremony will still be there or trying to exit campus. This can cause more frustration, arriving too close to ceremony time does potentially necessitate parking farther from the site with a longer walk.”

Some minor pieces of information to take into consideration is that all graduates should show up an hour early and enter through Schroeder Hall before their respective ceremony begins. Graduates will be able to customize their own caps, but it must be done appropriately and there is a zero-tolerance policy for alcohol and drugs. Guests who don’t abide by the policy will be removed from Commencement. For more information check out the commencement page on Sonoma State’s Website.