Graduation Hints and Suggestions for the Class of 2017 and Beyond

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Delaware
1

Here are a few hints for the parents of the Class of 2017 related to graduation weekend.

  1. If the general commencement is scheduled for early morning in the football stadium, make your way to the visitor's side of the stadium. That will keep you in the shade while waiting for the ceremony to begin. Sunscreen is a good idea as the ceremony will go longer than you expect.
  2. If you are planning to stay in Newark for the weekend, call various hotels as early as possible and find out when they are starting the reservation process. It took me 20 minutes of speed redialing to get through to the Embassy Suites across from the stadium on the first day of reservations. Prepare to pay a lot for the convenience of being close to the stadium. I will say that the staff of the Embassy Suites put on a nice event over the weekend with things like complimentary bottled water and very nice breakfast & happy hour spreads.
  3. Be prepared for crowded venues at the department convocation locations. We waited in line for 30 minutes outside the Carpenter Sports Building for the first Engineering Convocation and were fortunate to make it into the ceremony. Many family members had to watch the ceremony from an overflow room via video feed.
  4. Dress comfortably. It was a 2-mile walk from the stadium to the convocation in the Carpenter Sports Building. We were glad we were wearing comfortable shoes. And I was really glad I opted for shorts instead of dress slacks based on the heat and humidity.
  5. Only sealed bottles of water and other beverages were allowed into the stadium. No insulated cups, no snacks, no opened containers. A frozen bottle of water would be a good bet on a hot day.
  6. Pick a meeting spot to find your graduate after the ceremonies. Cell towers were getting overloaded at times and we wished we would have worked out a meeting plan beforehand.
  7. Bring a healthy dose of patience. Roads, sidewalks, restaurants, tents and other venues will be crowded.

I welcome other parents or graduates to add their suggestions.

2

Fauster, congratulations to your daughter.

We also sat on the visitor’s side, it wasn’t until almost the end that the sun was really hot. However my S was sunburned on the face and half of the forehead that wasn’t covered by his cap.

We stayed at the Baymont Inn across from the stadium. Well worth it for the convenience. We didn’t make reservations until February and consider ourselves lucky they still had room, probably because they changed their name and did a renovation. We stayed for 2 nights, Thursday and Friday. Some of the other hotels had mandatory 2 night minimums of Friday and Saturday but we saw no need to stay Saturday.

Get everywhere early. The honors ceremony started at 10 and by 9:15 at least half of the seats were filled and we thought we were early. Too far back for pictures, and we had to watch the jumbotron. We learned our lesson for the graduate and undergraduate convocations, and actually scored front row center seats for the graduate one! We walked across the street from the hotel before 7 am and my S was actually in the front of the line for his college coming into the stadium. Sure made it easy to see him.

I agree with picking a spot to meet, everyone looks the same in their cap and gown and the crowds were large. Since the convocation after the commencement was at the BOB next door, we met at the entrance. Leaving was much more difficult to find our son, and we played phone tag to find him.

Dress comfortably, many people did wear shorts (including my H). They also said the male students should wear a shirt and tie underneath the gown. However, you couldn’t even see the shirt or tie under the stole!

I still can’t believe the four years are over, it seems like yesterday we were moving him into Russell.