This year’s graduates have proven their resilience and dedication to academia. Despite all the odds and barriers they may have encountered along the way, they have persisted to reach this milestone, and that should be celebrated. The best way to honor your graduates is by attending the ceremony to show your support. When you hear their names announced, cheer loud and clap hard to help them celebrate their achievements.
Professor Trysteen Thanh-Binh Tran, who teaches English at the campus, volunteered to announce your graduates’ names as they cross the stage for this year’s ceremony. The role is important to her because she wants graduates to feel seen, acknowledged and appreciated when they hear their names read. As a professor, she knows how hard these graduates have worked, and while she may not know every graduate personally, her goal is to honor and celebrate each and every graduate’s identity.
Having been a student and graduate herself, Professor Tran equates higher education with that of a gauntlet. She firmly believes that students need to take time to celebrate both their small and major achievements, along with all the hard work it took to get there. Being a professor, she’s heard first-hand about the challenges students face on top of schooling. Whether it be family and work responsibilities or financial hardships, these graduates have endured. While the commencement ceremony is a celebration of academia, Professor Tran also wants graduates to feel proud of themselves and believe: “‘If I can make it through all things higher education and schooling, I can make it through anything else.’ They’re just small hurdles, and that’s it. It’s all to get you to that finish line.”
Showing up and making sure that your graduate can see you in the stands can help make their day special. “Hopefully it’ll be something that becomes a very core memory that is established,” Professor Tran conveyed. She also hopes the remembrance of the commencement ceremony will be something that can continually give graduates momentum to achieve their goals throughout their lives. A memory they can return to and “know that there are people who love and support them.”
Professor Tran advises graduates to be present during the ceremony. “How wonderful is it, to be among peers who are also charged with the same electric energy of celebration and joy?” She suggests to visitors, “It is so important to (help graduates) celebrate these different milestones because otherwise, one day can roll into the next without feeling like there’s anything new or something exciting to look forward to.”
Professor Tran also urges guests and graduates to hold off on thinking of the future, just for a while. There will be time for planning the next chapter, but on the day of the ceremony, graduates should enjoy all that they’ve achieved thus far.
When and Where
The commencement ceremony will start at 2:00 p.m. Thursday, June 18 in the Shoreline Gymnasium (3000 building). If you would like to watch your graduate walk the stage in the gymnasium, please arrive 30 minutes early with your tickets for the best seating. Tickets are required for guests to enter the gymnasium with the exception of children under 5 years old who must remain seated on their guardian’s lap during the entirety of the ceremony. Tickets can either be picked up at the Student Life office (PUB 9301) by your graduate between June 8 and June 16, or will be available at the front of the gymnasium for guests on the day-of. The doors to the gymnasium will close promptly at 2:00 p.m. and guests who arrive after this time will not be allowed entry. Instead, you will be directed to watch a livestream of the event at PUB 9000 building in the Main Dining Room. Additional guests without tickets can also watch the event in the Main Dining Room.
Accommodations
An American Sign Language interpreter will be onstage during the commencement ceremony. Unfortunately, the interpreter will not be visible for those watching the livestream. There will also be reserved space on the gymnasium floor for any guests who require more accessible seating arrangements. Please let the ushers know upon your arrival if you require either of these accommodations.
Photography
Professional photographers will be stationed throughout the gymnasium to take pictures of your graduates. Guests are allowed to take pictures during the event, but please be conscious of others and do not cross the stanchions on the floor of the gymnasium to take photographs.
Parking
Parking is free for all guests and graduates attending the ceremony. Visitors may park in student and staff parking, aside from spaces that are restricted or reserved. Arrive 90 minutes prior to the event, a shuttle will be moving around campus to transport guests and graduates to the gymnasium.
Shoreline College parking map
Gifts and Flowers
You can purchase gifts and flowers for your graduate by ordering online from The Commencement Group before June 15. The Commencement Group will be set up outside of the gymnasium where you can pick up any flowers or gifts you have ordered before the start of the ceremony. Additionally, a limited selection of stock will also be available for purchase on the day-of.
Post Ceremony
After the ceremony, a reception will be held in the courtyard outside the PUB 9000 building for faculty, graduates, friends, peers and family to come together and celebrate.
