Tickets being offered for CSC graduation

Each graduate will have the option to receive two free tickets for reserved floor seating at the undergraduate ceremony, in addition to extensive open seating in the gymnasium’s bleachers. In past years, all public seating has been open on a first-come, first-served basis, and people who have been unable to arrive very early for the ceremony were relegated to seats high in the bleachers.

“Our commencement committee has considered offering tickets for a number of years, so we decided this year to ask Student Senate members what they thought of the idea,” said Dr. Lois Veath, CSC’s interim vice president of academic and student affairs.

The idea proved to be popular among a majority of the Student Senate members, said Karissa Johnson of Hershey, Student Senate president.

“We had quite a bit of discussion about logistics, but once we were assured that it would work out, a large majority of the group voted for it,” Johnson said.

More than 400 seats will be reserved for ticket holders on the floor and the first row of bleachers. Another estimated 1,600 seats are available on a first-come, first-served basis in the bleachers.

Veath expects the ticketing to be popular among not only parents, but graduates whose guests may be arriving late, or those who may have trouble walking the bleacher steps.

The tickets will be made available Monday through Thursday of graduation week from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the CSC Conferencing Office’s satellite room in the Student Center, located east of the cafeteria.

Tickets which are not claimed will be distributed at the ceremony’s rehearsal that Friday.

“There may be a number of graduates who won’t need tickets. Some graduates may have relatives who do wish to take advantage of the special reserved seating or who would rather sit with larger groups of friends and family members in the stands. Therefore we will be able to distribute those remaining tickets at the rehearsal for graduates who may need them,” Veath said.

In addition to Armstrong Gym, seating will be available in the ballroom of the Student Center where a video feed of the ceremony will be projected on a large screen. The live video feed also will be broadcast on Chadron cable channel 20.

“The Student Center is always a good place for people to watch the ceremony in air-conditioned comfort. It has been popular, especially among the elderly and people with small children,” Veath said. “It has padded seating and stays much cooler on warm days.”

Seating at the ceremony for graduate degree candidates earlier that day will remain available on a first-come, first-served basis.