Spring 2021 graduation is Saturday, May 8.
There will be three separate ceremonies.
The first one will be held at 10 a.m. for graduate students earning masters’ degrees.
Additionally, graduate students who opted not to walk in December have an opportunity to do so in this ceremony.
“That ceremony will be a combination of students graduating this May and students who were scheduled to walk May 2020 who could not walk because of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Jay Collier, director of college relations, said.
At 1 p.m., the regular class of 2021 undergraduate’s ceremony will commence. Three hundred sixty-two students are scheduled to walk during this time.
“That’s a big crowd,” Collier said. “So we also extended an invitation to those undergraduates who graduated in May or December of last year.”
Wayne emailed all the undergraduate students and only 84 replied that they would like to walk.
“We could not add that to the 1 p.m. ceremony and not be way out of the capacity that is allowed in the Willow Bowl,” Collier said. “There will be a 4 p.m. ceremony for the COVID-19 undergrads. That ceremony will basically be the same ceremony they would have had last May.”
The ceremonies will be in the Willow Bowl, if weather permits. The Northeast Nebraska Health Department still needs to approve this event.
The directive health measures has provided no restrictions from the governor’s office. Seating will be first come, first served and guests are encouraged to bring their preferred seating with them.
In case of inclement weather, the ceremonies will be held in Rice Auditorium. If this happens, guests must have a ticket in order to enter the auditorium.
Graduates will receive five tickets they can give to their guests and these will be mailed to their local address.
Overflow seating will be available in Ramsey Theatre with no ticket needed and live streamed from the auditorium.
Those attending may park anywhere on campus. There are no parking passes required, and parking is free.
The ceremony will be live streamed for public viewing. Commencement will be televised on Campus Cable 6.1 and on channel 6 of American Broadband (Wayne).
Masks will be provided to graduates as well as any guests who do not have any.
They are required in the graduate seating area but graduates will be allowed to remove their mask when walking across the stage and when processing in and out of the ceremonies. Guests are strongly encouraged to wear their masks when they are not able to socially distance.
“I’m excited for graduation and can’t wait to walk across the stage and look out and see my family and friends smiling at me,” Wayne State senior, Andrew Suiter, said.
“The steps that lead me to graduating was receiving advice from friends and faculty,” Suiter said. “Staying diligent in my classes and believing in myself. This process has been difficult at time but, there have been easy moments throughout these steps with assistance from close friends or faculty.”
“One of the biggest things I will miss about Wayne is visiting the businesses on Main Street with my friends and enjoying some of the different quiet spots around the campus,” Suiter said.