Graduation preparations commence at Liberty

With the spring semester a mere four weeks from conclusion, the campus-wide preparation and planning for Liberty University’s 2018 Commencement May 19 is in full swing.

Faculty members from every corner of the university have been hard at work in an effort to create an enjoyable experience for the projected 18,000 graduates and 35,000-40,000 guests slated to fill the campus. Lori Baker, program manager for Commencement, and her team have been working on developing the various events and elements of Commencement for roughly eight months, and Baker noted that she is looking forward to seeing the same joyous reactions that she has seen in her 11 years as program manager.

“My team plans the event, but there are hundreds and hundreds of staff members throughout the campus that are involved in Commencement,” Baker said. “They’re as excited for the graduation as the graduates, and it’s cool to see the service culture of Liberty come together that weekend and put on the event.”

One of the foremost topics regarding the ceremony is the logistics involving the ongoing construction of Williams Stadium, the ceremony’s venue. Daniel Deter, vice president of major construction, has ensured that the stadium is equipped and suitable for the ceremony crowd, despite the unusable portions still set to be a work in progress. He also noted there will be temporary restroom facilities, designated pedestrian paths and food trucks serving concessions during the day.

In regard to the rest of Liberty’s on-campus additions, Deter is thrilled to showcase to the thousands of visitors the numerous buildings and add-ons to the campus that have been added in recent years, with the Freedom Tower as the highlight of the expansion.

“With all the new facilities we have brought online the past couple of years, our guests will struggle to see them all in just this single day,” Deter said. “With (the Freedom Tower)’s location and being the highest building in the city, we are predicting that there will be an enormous amount of traffic visiting this new building to get the bird’s eye view of our beautiful campus.”

Baker shared the enjoyment of seeing the large amount of people who get to see the campus in person for the first time, namely those who are graduating with degrees earned online.

“While a lot of our residential graduates have come through and seen these buildings being built, a lot of our online graduates that are coming to campus are doing so for the first time, so they get to see the things that they’ve heard about,” Baker said.

In addition to the on-campus architectural sights, former President Jimmy Carter will give the Commencement address. Carter’s presence will mark the second consecutive president to speak at a Liberty graduation, as current U.S. President Donald Trump addressed 2017 graduates.

“President Carter has done a lot of great humanitarian work in the country, and I think it’s going to be great to have his encouraging speech to our graduates,” Baker said. “I talk to a lot of other schools about their Commencements, and it’s just neat to say that when you graduated you had a president or a former president at your ceremony.”

As one of the many students set to be handed a diploma, Cameron Phillips is looking forward to the ceremony and everything that it signifies about himself, his fellow graduates and the university as a whole.

“I think Commencement is a real way of acknowledging the ways that we, as students, have been blessed, that we’ve been able to finish what we’ve done, the ways that the school has been able to continue to grow and act as a kind of final admonishment for all of us going out to continue to practice the same principles instilled in us here,” Phillips said.

While there is still some work to be done, the crowds and the festivities are set in place to celebrate the future for the newest graduates from Liberty University.