Instructions for Graduates

Students must complete a Graduation Application and pay their $25 application fee to participate in the ceremony. Students who submit their application after May 14th are able to participate in the ceremony but will not have their name listed in the Graduation Program.

Check in Card

You are required to have a "Check in Card" in order to cross the stage to receive your diploma. Your name will be preprinted on the card. You will hand the Check in Card to a reader who will use the card to announce your name as you cross the stage. If your name is difficult to pronounce, spell your name phonetically to assist the reader. The readers will only read your name, there is not time for extra messages. You must present a Check in Card to walk across the stage.

Check in Cards can be picked up at the Greener Store when you pick up your cap and gown-Wednesday, June 13th, 10 am to 5 pm or Thursday, June 14th, 9 am to 5 pm. On Graduation Day the Check in Card can be picked up under the Library overhang from 11 am until 1 pm.

Tacoma Program students should contact Olga Inglebritson to arrange to pick up their Check in Card.

Graduate Program students should contact their Program Assistant Directors.

Cap & Gown Information

• Olympia Campus are available for pick up beginning Wednesday, June 13th at noon in the Greener Store.
• Tacoma Program graduates will be notified when the caps and gowns arrive. Pick up will be at Tacoma Campus’ main office.

Processional

The processional line-up will be between the LAB buildings and Lecture Halls. You should plan to be in the processional line-up by 12:30 pm on June 15th. Have your Check in Card with you. Staff will be available to assist you with the line-up.

Graduates will process in 4 columns (noted below). Each column will be led by a marshal (Academic Dean) and will process to one of four seating sections.

Column #1 will begin with M.Ed., MIT, MES and MPA graduates, then Tacoma and Tribal graduates followed by all other undergraduates. The 2nd, 3rd, and 4th columns will be filled with the remaining undergraduates. If you want to be seated with a friend or a group of friends, you should line up in the same column, not beside each other in different columns.

1st Column	2nd, 3rd and 4th Columns
M.Ed. MIT MES MPA Tacoma Tribal All Other Undergraduates	All Undergraduates

As you process onto Red Square, you will move through a crowd, including faculty members.  Please move through the crowd to your seats as quickly as possible.  We will have approximately 1,000 graduates who will process and be seated before the ceremony begins. 

After the graduation speeches, you will be cued by row to rise and form a line leading to the readers on the left-hand side of the stage as you face the stage and then walk across the stage to receive your diploma cover.  Staff will be present to assist you in moving to the readers and across the stage.  Students receiving graduate degrees will be introduced first, followed by Tacoma graduates, then Tribal graduates followed by the remaining undergraduates.