Dear Graduating Student,

We are only a few days away from the most joyous day for the Curry College community—Commencement 2023. I am writing to share final details regarding Commencement weekend activities for all graduates. Details below are written in sequential manner and may or may not be relevant to everyone receiving this message. Please read this message carefully and thoroughly. If you have other specific questions, please refer to the Commencement website as there are many details that are applicable to graduating students and their guests.

Last Day to Order Tickets (Friday, May 19, 2023)

We have extended the deadline to order your guest tickets through the online ticketing system. If you still need to order tickets, please do so prior to 12 Noon (Eastern Standard Time) on Friday, May 19, 2023. Instructions on how to order tickets may be found here. Please note that all guests, including children of any age, are required to have a ticket as the Xfinity Center has capacity restrictions that must be monitored and adhered to.

Pre-Commencement Events (Saturday, May 20, 2023)

Nurses Pinning Ceremony
The Nurses Pinning Ceremony will be held on Saturday, May 20th beginning at 10 a.m. in the Katz Gymnasium. This is a ticketed event managed by the School of Nursing. Please contact the School of Nursing directly if you have any questions regarding this event.

Graduate and Family Reception
Faculty are invited to attend the Graduate and Family Reception which will be held on Saturday May 20th from 12 Noon to 2 p.m. in the Student Center. This celebration will include the announcement of the valedictorian(s) and salutatorian(s) for the Class of 2023.

Commencement Information (Sunday, May 21, 2023)

Parking
There are multiple large parking lots at the Xfinity Center and Xfinity Center staff will be directing vehicle traffic.

Individuals who require accessible parking who have an accessible license plate or placard should ensure that the license plate or placard is prominently displayed upon arrival to the Xfinity Center. Parking staff will direct these individuals to the accessible parking area.

If there are any parking related questions, please roll down your window and ask one of the Xfinity Center staff members who will be able to assist you.
Security Checks and Bag Policy
All individuals entering the Xfinity Center will need to participate in a security screening before entering the venue. This includes walking through a scanning device. Please be aware that the Xfinity Center also has a bag policy in place in an effort to reduce staff contact with guest belonings. The bag policy is that bags must be either clear plastic, vinyl or PVC bags with a maximum size of 12”x6”x12” or small clutch bags which don’t need to be clear, but must have a maximum size of 6”x9”.

Information on other relevant Xfinity Center policies can be found on the Commencement website.
Arrival Time/Entrance – Updated Gate Numbers
Gates at the Xfinity Center will open at 8:30 a.m. Please plan to arrive no later than 8:30 a.m. Faculty and Graduating Students will enter the venue through the line that lead to Gates 7 & 9. Graduating students who are participating in the ceremony do not require a ticket to enter the venue. Ticketed guests will enter through Gates 10, 12, 14 & 16.

Please make sure to pay close attention to directional signage.

Walking at the Xfinity Center
There will be a fair amount of walking at the Xfinity Center. Please plan to wear sensible shoes. For anyone attending with mobility issues, we are encouraging folks to be prepared to walk at least ¼ mile from the front gates to seating or line up areas. The College will have a limited supply of wheelchairs once you enter the venue, however, they will not be able to be used by an individual exclusively. If someone attending needs exclusive use of a wheelchair or who require assistance walking from the parking lots to the entrance gates, we encourage them to bring their own.

Once inside the Xfinity Center, ticketed guests will proceed to the left side of the venue and head toward the “Lotside” path. Graduating students and faculty will proceed to the right side of the venue toward the “Woodside” path.

As graduating proceed to Woodside, please keep an eye out for directional signage with instructions to Check In.

Check In
At the Check In tents, Curry College staff will check graduates in. At the Check In tent you’ll be asked to check in alphabetically by the last name that you asked to be printed on your diploma when you completed the Intent to Graduate form with the Registrar’s Office to receive an index card which will display your name, including a phonetical spelling if the name readers have added one to the card, and graduation honors.

It is very important that you keep this index card with you during line up and until you walk across the stage. The index card will be used by the Academic Affairs staff who read every graduate’s name. Please do not write on the index cards in any way, such as crossing any writing already on the card when you receive it or crumple the cards to fit them in your pocket. The Academic Affairs staff who read names may have added hand-written notes on some cards to help phonetically pronounce the names of the graduates based on how they hear students pronounce their names through the recordings on the Commencement Hotline.

Line Up Areas
Once you receive your index card at the Check In table you will proceed down the hill to tented areas – once at the bottom of the hill, the tent on the right will be for graduates receiving either a master’s degree or a certificate of advanced graduate studies. The tent on the left will be for graduates earning either a Bachelor of Arts of Bachelor of Science degree.

Each tent will have numerical rows to help with an orderly line up – please find the row that corresponds with the number that is written on your index card that you received at Check In. Curry staff will help you line up in the correct order for the procession and the awarding of diploma cases.

Processional and Seating
The processional will begin at 9:30 a.m. The faculty will lead the processional, followed by the graduates and then the platform party. Members of the Curry College Student Affairs team will serve as this Student Marshals. They will help to facilitate lining up and seating of graduates. Graduates will be seated in Section 2. Water and programs will be available at the seats for graduates.

Ceremony
As a reminder, this is an academic ceremony. Please plan to arrive on time, be respectful to everyone as they walk across the stage, and plan to stay for the entire ceremony. The ceremony will begin promptly at 10 a.m. and we expect that the ceremony will last approximately two hours.

There is a program for the ceremony that we will follow. When it is time for graduates to walk across the stage, Student Marshals will ask graduates to stand, one row at a time, and come forward to the stage. Students receiving Master’s Degrees and Certificates of Advanced Graduate Studies will walk across the stage first, followed by students receiving their Bachelor’s degrees. You will need to walk up approximately five stairs to get onto the stage. Once you are on the stage you will hand the index card that you received at Check In to the person at the top of the stairs on stage who is announcing the graduate names.

Once your name is announced, you will walk across the stage to where President Quigley will be standing. He will shake your hand and present you with your diploma cover. He will help guide you into position to have a photograph taken by the Commencement Photographer. Once the photo is taken, you will continue to walk to the stairs on the far end of the stage and proceed back down to the Xfinity Center floor and then you will walk back to your seat.

If you have mobility issues and are concerned about walking up or down the stairs, please reach out to me at commencement@curry.edu and our team can work with you to make arrangements to get you to and from the stage.

Recessional
At the conclusion of the ceremony, the platform party will lead recessional followed by the faculty. Faculty will gather outside of the Pavilion area and form two lines – one on each side of the path – to allow graduates to walk in between the two lines so that they may celebrate your accomplishments and welcome you as the newest Curry College alumni community.

Reconnecting with Guests
Graduate should plan to meet their guests back near the main entrance to the Xfinity Center. Curry College photo backdrops will be positioned on the Lotside Path at the conclusion of the ceremony in case you would like to take photos with guests, classmates, or faculty.

Live Stream of Ceremony
The College has once again hired a partner to live stream the Commencement Ceremony. In addition, these folks projecting the video onto the large TVs on either side of the stage. The live-streaming of the ceremony will be shared on the Commencement website for those who wish to join us virtually. The video of the ceremony will also be available on the Commencement website following the conclusion of the ceremony.

Photography
The College has hired several photographers to capture candid and posed images during the ceremony. A selection of candid images will be posted on the College’s social media accounts in the days following the ceremony. Feel free to share those images on your own social media pages and with family and friends.

You will receive an email proof of the photo of you receiving your diploma cover on stage from The Commencement Group approximately one-week after Commencement with information on how you may purchase the image if you so choose.

Exiting Xfinity Center
Mansfield Police will direct the flow of traffic exiting the Xfinity Center. Thank you for your patience in exiting the venue.

To say that the faculty and staff are proud of your accomplishments is an understatement. I encourage you to cherish these next few days and to celebrate your hard work and those who helped make this possible. Congratulations to the Class of 2023. You made it and we are excited to see and hear about your next steps. We all look forward to seeing you over the course of the next several days.

Cheers!
Mike

Michael A. Bosco
Commencement 2023 Committee Chair
Associate Vice President of Academic and Strategic Partnerships