What you can expect at the Fall 2019 commencement ceremony

The Fall 2019 commencement ceremony will be held in the HTC Convocation Center on Dec. 17.

The graduation ceremony is a time for students to celebrate after their hard work towards a degree or certification. For CCU’s staff and faculty, the excitement of this event is also long awaited.

“Commencement is a favorite time of year for us, because we understand how hard you all have worked to realize this tremendous achievement in your lives,” said Coastal Carolina University’s president, David DeCenzo.

There will be two different time frames for the ceremony. At 2 p.m. the Thomas W. and Robin W. Edwards College of Humanities and Fine Arts, the E. Craig Wall, Sr. College of Business Administration, HTC Honors College and Center for Interdisciplinary Studies soon-to-be graduates will walk. While the Spadoni College of Education and the Gupta College of Science students will walk later that day at 6 p.m.

Commencement ceremonies take a great deal of planning. The CCU office of Special Events manage the ceremonies every year bringing together a wide variety of CCU programs to make everything possible. Many departments on campus are taking part in this ceremony including the Accessibility and Disability Services, Chanticleer Bookstore, and Transportation Services and many more.

“Each commencement is a significant undertaking involving 23 departmental units on campus and many volunteers,” said Associate Vice President and Chief Communication Officer Martha Hunn.

At each ceremony there is a keynote speaker who shares to the students how their life experience was after college graduation. This year’s keynote speaker will be Ron Daise who hopes to shape the mindsets of the soon-to-be graduates.

“I hope to leave each student with a message that’s fun, informative, and inspiring,” said Daise. “I’ll speak about lessons learned since my college graduation and the awareness that life sometimes will catapult you to unanticipated circumstances, but hopefully ones that you’ve been prepared to undertake.”

As the semester comes to an end and students prepare for graduation, senior Aja Craft explains how excited, yet nervous she is to finally finish. She is ready to begin the next journey of her life and is very proud of all her peers she’ll be graduating with. Yet on top of all the big achievements taking place, there’s one thing she’s most excited for.

“Being a graphic design major, the thing I’m looking most forward to at the ceremony is seeing how everyone decorated their cap,” said Craft.

Each fall graduate will receive seven tickets for the commencement ceremony. For those who are interested in attending, but do not know a graduate, there will be a fee for general admission. The seating will be first-come, first-serve for general admission, so make plans to arrive early.

Congratulations to all the soon-to-be alumni of CCU! The wait is finally over.