Hello. Good evening. Welcome. Thank you all so much for joining us once again for our second webinar of the spring semester. My name is Jason Meier, and I serve as the Associate Dean for Student engagement within the Dean of Students Office at the college. I have the honor and privilege of supporting so many incredible students and staff here, specifically the ones that work with our student organization and extra and co-curricular communities, and of course, our pre orientation and family engagement programs, which brings us here today. As per usual, I'll be one of your moderators for tonight's conversation, along with my incredible colleague Katie, who I'll let introduce herself right now. 

Thanks so much, Jason. Hi, everyone. My name is Katie Patrick. I'm the interim director of orientation and family engagement, and I oversee orientation and family engagement programs just like this. As Jason mentioned, this is our second webinar of the spring semester, which is so exciting. 

A few weeks ago, we were joined by Harvard athletics to hear a little bit more about resources and services that they provide. And if you're interested in watching that, the recording is on our website and was shared in our most recent newsletter, so definitely check it out. It was really wonderful to hear from that group. 

Before we move on in our discussion, I just have a couple quick tips and tricks for tonight. So as you may have heard, this session is being recorded, and we will post the recording to our website and then we'll share it out in the newsletter as well. It takes about a week for us to get our transcription and caption files, so just bear with us a little bit, but we will get it up as soon as it is available. 

We also recommend submitting questions ahead of time before our webinars, so we link that in the newsletter as well. But if you do find that you have any questions after the webinar takes place, please email us at parents@fas.harvard.edu. Happy to direct the questions wherever they need to go or chat directly with you. So always feel free to reach out if you have any questions at any time. 

At the very end of this webinar, we do have a quick survey that will pop up. I would love to hear your feedback, and it would just really mean a lot if you could take a moment to respond to that. I read through all of the responses, so I really, really appreciate it. And I'll hand it off to Jason for our next piece of advice. 

That's right. And the last piece of information we want to share is regarding a law that our parents and family members of all college students should be aware of. In that law is known as FERPA, which stands for the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, which means, in short, a student's records belongs to them and them alone. 

So as college students, they're in charge of their own records, their grades, anything related to housing, any scheduling things, and it's theirs and theirs alone. We as staff or even faculty cannot share that with or talk about it with anyone other than the student. So if you have questions related to your student's personal records, I would recommend start with your student. Connect with them on any and all of those matters. 

Thanks so much, Jason. So we have a wonderful panel of folks today that are going to be speaking with you about all the aspects of commencement, the Harvard Alumni Association. So before we get into hearing from them directly, I would just love for them to do a quick introduction. So you know who's going to be with us tonight. So first, I would love to bring up Erika. 

Good evening everybody. I'm Erika McDonald and I'm the registrar of the faculty of Arts and Sciences. And that includes Harvard College as well as the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. 

Awesome. Thanks so much, Erika. Next up John. 

Hello, everybody. Thank you for being here. My name is John Prince. I'm a staff member at the Harvard Alumni Association office in the college alumni programs team. I'm also an alum from the college. I graduated in 2013 and I lived in Eliot House. 

Amazing. Thanks so much, John. Tonight we actually have two students joining us. So first Charisma, can you join us. 

Hi, everybody. I'm Charisma. I'm the senior classes first class Marshal. And in Lowell House I'm a senior studying government and economics. Economics is my secondary. Government is my concentration. 

Awesome. Thanks so much, Charisma. And Mohan. 

Hi, everyone. My name is Mohan. I'm also a senior at the college and I serve as the second Marshal on the class committee with Charisma, and I study integrative biology and I'm in Mather House. 

Awesome. Thank you both so much for joining us tonight. Our next guest is Stephan. 

Thanks, Katie. Thanks, Jason. Good evening everybody. I'm Stephan Magro. I'm the university's commencement director and oversee major academic ceremonies. I feel like I should say, and I'm in Wadsworth house, which is not, of course, an undergraduate house, but was the first house of any president. So just delighted to be here. This is one of my favorite times of year. So thank you so much. 

Thank you so much. We appreciate you being here. Next up Carvina. 

Hello, everyone. My name is Carvina Williams. I'm the undergraduate coordinator in the Dudley Community, and this is one of my favorite times of year to be able to do this presentation. Thank you. 

Thank you so much. And last but not least, Shannon. 

Hi, everybody. My name is Shannon Poppe Zaruba. I take the she series and I serve as the Mather House administrator. 

Thank you all to our panelists so much. We're so excited to have you all here today. 

That's right. And I get to kick things off with Erika. So Erika, if you want to come back, we've got a couple of questions for you. It's great to have you here, Erika. So if you can tell us a little bit more about yourself, your role, and the responsibilities of the registrar's office, especially when it comes to commencement. 

Sure. Happy to. So, as I said earlier, Erika McDonald, I'm the registrar. I've actually worked at Harvard for 25 years, which is shocking for me to say. I began my career in graduate admissions at the Harvard Kennedy School, and then I moved over to the registrar's office, and I've worked at the registrar's office now for 13 years and I've been the registrar for almost four years. 

Some fun facts about me. I actually met my husband here 25 years ago at the Kennedy School. We have two children. They're both teenagers and they love sports and going on vacation. And my daughter is actually a senior in high school this year. So I'm in the exciting phase of supporting her in selecting a college for next year. So that's been an exciting and wild ride. 

So a little bit about the registrar's office. It is my absolute privilege to support your student from the first time that they register for classes through graduation. Our office is what I call the keeper of student records. So we safeguard your students' academic records. We also fulfill their need for official documents for things like transcripts, enrollment verifications, and diplomas. 

And beyond records. Our office is a hub for a lot of other things, such as course registration. We asigns classrooms for courses. We help students track their progress to degree. We set the exam schedule every term, and we administer exams for students who might have an exam conflict. We work with instructors to collect grades every term. We support the academic departments with course planning and scheduling. 

We serve as experts on FERPA, which Jason mentioned at the outset of this meeting, which is a really important law that protects your students' privacy with regard to their education records. Our office is the central nervous system, which means many roads and questions lead back to us for support. 

We work with students, faculty, and administrators across 50 academic departments. And my office not only supports the college so 6,700 college students, but we also support 5,000 students in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and around 60 master's and PhD programs. And we graduate students three times per year, not only in May, but we also have two other small degree periods in November and February. 

So it sounds like you're a little busy, but also, Katie and I volunteer to join you on any campus visits that you need our assistance. We're-- 

Thank you. 

--super happy to do that for you. That's incredible work. Obviously, your role is really important. And it plays such an integral role when students earn their degrees. So can you tell us from your point of view as the registrar how students earn their degrees. 

Yes. So my office helps support your student in their movement along the path to commencement, especially in their final semester. So first off, we have to make sure that all graduating students grades are in. So students may not graduate with any missing grades. 

So it's my job and my staff's job to make sure that we have every single grade from every single year of study for every single student graduating. The timing of grading and May commencement is very, very tight in the calendar. So instructors have to be super diligent about submitting their grades for graduating students. 

My team also communicates with your students to confirm that they're going to graduate and confirm that what their diploma name and their information is, things like their concentration, their house, and some other required information that we ask them to just triple check before we go forward with the commencement process. 

We work with academic departments to clear your student for graduation based on the fulfillment of their concentration requirements. And once we have all the grades and all the department's recommendations, then we can calculate Latin honors, which are the college level honors. This happens at the end of the week before commencement. 

After we have Latin honors calculated, we place a rush order for the diplomas, and we receive these diplomas two days before commencement. My team will then check and organize all of the diplomas, and schedule pickup times with each house, so that they can come and get their diplomas for their local ceremonies. 

On the Monday before commencement. Several University bodies have to vote to recommend the conferral of the degrees. So my office prepares all of the materials that are necessary for these various offices to vote. So these are special degree lists, statistic compilations, and also the materials for the Harvard commencement booklet that you'll receive on commencement day. 

First, the administrative board of Harvard College has to recommend the degrees to the Faculty of Arts and Science faculty. Then the faculty have to vote to recommend the degrees to the Harvard governing boards. And finally-- 

[AUDIO OUT] 

Have we-- I think we've lost Erika. It's OK. We will hopefully get Erika right back. And she can finish sharing this, but it is very clear how much work the registrar's office puts in with that very fast turnaround to ensure diplomas and Latin honors are all set, and everyone has a beautiful program. So that work is so important to the overall success. And we're so grateful and happy to have such good partners in the registrar's office. So I'm going to turn it over to our next panelist now. 

Awesome. Thank you, John, for joining us. So John, can you tell our families a little bit more about who you are-- oh, and Erika is back. Hi, Erika. 

[CHUCKLES] 

Technology has failed me. OK. I was pretty much done. I don't know where I got it cut off, but just one last word. Commencement is the culmination of all the hard work that all the students do, and it's actually the best day. It's my favorite day. And it's so gratifying for me and my team to see the progress that your student has made and to celebrate with them on this special day. So thank you. 

There's not a better team to keep us organized than the registrar team. So thank you, Erika, for all of that. It's such important work and we're grateful for you and the team. Let's bring on John. 

All right. John, can you tell us a little bit more about you and your work. 

Yeah, so as I mentioned, I'm a staff member in the Harvard Alumni Association office, or HAA, as it's often acronym. So the HAA is the official Alumni Association of Harvard College, but also the University wide alumni community at Harvard that includes Harvard's Graduate and professional schools as well. 

So this currently looks like about more than 100,000 living Harvard and Radcliffe College alums and more than 430,000 living University wide alums. So it's a very big community. So our mission is to maintain and enhance a highly engaged, vibrant community of alumni and friends worldwide. So we do that by bringing people together through events, communications, and other engagement initiatives. 

The HAA office is part of a larger organization called Alumni Affairs and development that includes Harvard's various development offices. So we do partner very closely with our colleagues at the Harvard College Fund, which works to support the mission of Harvard College and the current student experience. 

And then so my team within the HAA office works specifically with just the Harvard College population. And my role oversees a cohort that includes everyone from current students up to those 11 years out from graduation. So thinking strategically about our current student alumni engagement, working with the senior class as they transition into alumni life, working with our recent graduates, which we define as up to 10 years out from graduation, and then overseeing the fifth and 10th reunion experiences as well. 

And so there are lots of opportunities to be engaged with our office as students. All students can take advantage of the resources available to them through the alumni community. But I work with two different student committees. One is a committee that specifically helps us to think through our alumni connection strategy, making sure that students are aware of these resources and events and other programs that we do. 

And then also during senior year is the first time that there is class specific governance at Harvard. So some of you may be familiar with the Harvard Undergraduate Association, which is school-wide governance. But starting senior year, the class has a chance to vote for its own class specific leaders. 

And what's really great about this is that this is not just a senior year only thing. This is going to be the permanent governance of the class for life. Certainly, the responsibilities going after senior year look a little bit different than that senior year of college, but it's great to be able to strengthen those connections and that community during senior year in moving forward. 

That's awesome. Thank you so much for that overview, John. So for our families who have students that might now be alumni or coming up to, how would you recommend that students get involved post-graduation with your team? 

Yes, there's always lots of opportunities. In addition to the class committee, which forms during the senior year, there are another role called activity share, which basically is anybody else in the class that wants to support class activity engagement isn't already on the class committee can join, so there's no limit to that. Anybody can be a part of that. 

And then going forward, every five years, a reunion committee will form to plan the reunion experience. And if you do one year, you're not required to do the next one five years later. Or you could skip one and do another one later. So we're always welcoming everyone's engagement, no matter where they are in their journey through life after Harvard. 

That's incredible. Well, I would love to bring up Mohan to tell us a little bit more about your role and who you are and your responsibilities. 

Totally. As John mentioned, Charisma and I, along with six other program Marshals, are elected by the entire senior class at the start of senior year. And our job is basically first to plan events during the fall and spring semesters, as well as during senior week for class day, which is during commencement week and beyond into alumni life. 

So during the fall and spring, we've been planning a bunch of events ranging from parties and social gatherings to bring the whole class together, as well as smaller events that bring subsets of the class, like musicians, or people interested in different activities together, as well as reflection activities and opportunities for students to think about their senior year and reflect on what they want to do going into alumni life. And coming up for us is senior week, which will be a week of events and reflection and activities after students finish their final exams, followed by class day, and then mini reunions to come. 

That's amazing. Charisma, I would love to hand it off to you to tell us a little bit more about yourself, and I would love to hear from both of you, but I'll start with you. Charisma why you were interested in this role? 

Yeah, definitely. Mohan definitely covered a lot of the roles and responsibilities that are throughout both terms. A huge thing is kind of just getting the word out and finding opportunities to bring connection to our class. So a huge part of the role is just like being on foot, going up to people and just being like should pull up to this function on this day, this time, bring your friends or reaching out to them through Instagram reels like videos or flyers. 

We have a very talented media team, and they do hand-drawn posters to promote a lot of these events. And so it's just getting people excited and hyped to leave the room and go hang out with other members of the class. And yeah, I think you talked about what particular events I'm excited for is that-- 

Oh, why you're interested in-- 

Oh, why I was interested in. Oh, yes. OK I definitely was interested in it because of the fact that it's very personable. You just-- the role is just you go up to people and you tell them like, hey, pull up to the function. It's a really awesome opportunity to just get to know other members of the class that I haven't yet gotten to known to further my friendships and relationships and time spent with existing people in the class that I have known for all three, four years. 

So honestly, I was just really drawn to the idea that I could be so hands-on and I could listen to everything that the people want to see, and also play a hand in making those events or whatever come into fruition and getting people excited. So it just appealed to me on, like all fronts, but specifically the social one and just getting to hang out with friends and be like, yeah, this is partly in the role. Yes of course. Yeah, lots of fun. 

Awesome, Charisma. Mohan I would love to hear from you why you were interested. 

I think similar reasons. I feel like throughout college I was involved in a bunch of different disparate communities. I led one of the pre-orientation hiking trips, I wrote for the Crimson. But this job was super exciting to me because it's a way to unite the whole class and people who maybe you didn't know before or didn't know each other since freshman year. 

It just very fun for me to bring everyone together, talk to everyone, be out and about on campus, like Charisma said. And I guess I'm just super excited for senior week and to make a sense of class spirit and make people feel like they belong in the class. So that's what I was pumped about. 

Awesome. Thank you so much. So before I bring it back to you both, John, I know we talked about a lot of different things that are happening here. I was wondering if you could frame out what does senior week mean. What does class day, if you could just give us a little overview of all these different events and how they play into the overall commencement time frame. 

Absolutely. I'll also say first, that what Charisma and Mohan did not say is that all this work requires a lot of time and effort. So we're very grateful for everything that they and the rest of the committee are doing for their classmates. We really appreciate it. So yes, as has been teed up here. 

So after final exams end in the spring semester, that then begins a period of two weeks of events and celebrations for the senior class. So after exams are done, most of the first year students, sophomores, and juniors now move off campus. And it's really mostly just the senior class that's still on campus, and it's two different weeks of events. 

The first week is senior week, which is a time just for the seniors to be with each other. And that's something that the class committee will have a role in planning a lot of those events. I don't know if Charisma or Mohan you want to speak to anything that you're planning for this year. 

Yeah, Mohan, you want to go first. 

Sure. 

Awesome. 

A bunch of events happening during senior week. Two, I'm excited about our first kind of like a class wide Olympics. We held this at Harvard stadium across the river. So just a really fun venue. And there's competitions between houses, lots of games, just get people running around out and about during senior week. Another fun event is we have two big class wide functions, one at Royal and one called Senior Soiree on the Science Center Plaza. And so that's just like an awesome way to bring literally most of the class together for a final hurrah. 

Awesome. And then the-- some events I'm excited for are the talent show, because we had a first year talent show during first year orientation week. So I'm excited to see who applies to be in it and what the schedule would look like. I wonder if we'll have any returning people from first year that would be cool to see or new people so excited to run that. 

And then what the other thing is the reflection events. Looking back, looking forward, which is something the 12 house reps did during the fall semester, is like there were events where you could come in and write a letter to your future self once you graduate. So the house reps have collected those letters and when senior week comes, will disperse them and then people will get to see what happened from that letter and what didn't happen and try to do things senior week, I don't know. 

But I think it'll be a very cool, nostalgic, full circle moment. Both of those events. Yeah, very excited just to see everyone together. And we get to dress up for some of the events too. And some are casual, so we have a good mix. It'll be very fun. 

Thank you both. Yeah, so those events run for a full week. It's a busy, long week for the senior class. And then they get a couple days to catch up on their sleep. And then we move into the week of commencement. So this is now when families, guests, all of you are now joining your students on campus. 

And what I will say about the college commencement experience for students and families is really three big flagship events throughout that week to focus on. So I'll tee up the first one and then our other panelists will speak to the others. So first I'll talk about class day. So this is going to be on the Wednesday of that week. So this is the day right before commencement. 

This is a ceremony in Harvard Yard that's specifically just for the Harvard College seniors and their families, rather than the larger University wide graduating class. So this is a chance just for this class and their families to be in community. We'll hear from members of the class committee who will speak. Other seniors will give speeches. There'll be some performances, some guest speakers. The Dean of the college will speak. So it's a chance to celebrate all the work that's gone into these past four or more years so far, and get ready for graduation the following day. 

Class day is really, truly such a remarkable, fun, special event. Thank you for all of your work in helping make that a reality. And a special thanks to Charisma and Mohan. Senior week is certainly a heavy lift, and it's clear how much joy you bring to the community, so we greatly appreciate it. 

John just did a wonderful job of teeing up our next guest, and so we're really excited to welcome Stephan Magro to come and talk a little bit about what happens the day after class day. So, Stephan, tell us more about yourself in your role. 

Jason, thanks so much and Katie for having me here. My name is again Stephan, and I'm in the commencement office. My role involves the overall direction of the commencement experience. We have 8,471 students University wide. That number fluctuates a little depending on how Erika and Erika's team is with the students and their completing graduation requirements. 

We have over 30,000 guests in Tercentenary-- well, in Harvard Yard. And so my role involves hundreds of volunteers coordination across the schools and the houses, everything from the logistics that you see to the honorary degree recipients, to the very student speakers that speak at commencement. And in fact, last week just had a wonderful information session with a lot of promising seniors and degree candidates. 

And so it's a wonderful-- Erika and Vina both have me beat. I've been here 24 years in September. But it's been the joy of a lifetime to be able to support our young people on what really is Harvard's most joyous day. And I don't just say that because I work in the commencement office. I truly believe it. 

And previous to this, I worked for about 12 years in the Harvard Alumni Affairs and Development, working closely with John and counterparts. And still to this very day, commencement does not come to life without our partnerships with folks in the Dean of Students Office like you, Jason and Katie, but also with John and his fabulous peers in the Alumni Association. 

Thanks, Stephan. It really is quite the team that makes this day happen. And it is agreed quite the honor to be a part of so much tradition in history. Speaking of, there's no one better to share a little bit about the history of commencement and some of the traditional events that happen. So can you share a little bit of that for our families. 

I will try to keep it to a little bit. As any of you might know this is my very favorite topic, but I'm going to try to keep this as succinct as possible about the history of commencement here at Harvard. So in 1642, with just nine senior sophists, our first commencement was held, and it was held indoors. It was in the old College Hall. It was this beautiful e-shaped building over by where Gray's is now. It was built in the English style. It didn't last more than 35 years in the harsh New England weather. 

In those days, President Dunster served as the host, the registrar, the chair, the resident Dean, University Marshal, commencement director, and really every other role. And the best part is he did the very least amount of talking. Those nine students themselves did the most amount of talking. They had to deliver what was called a disputation, some in English, or Latin, Greek, or Hebrew, to basically prove that they were ready to graduate. And that was on September 23rd, 1642. 

So that was whatever, 384 years ago. And here we are now. In the early days, there were no registrars and diplomas as such. If a senior sophist wanted a diploma, they had to make one themselves and bring it to the president to sign. Thankfully, we don't do that anymore. That would be quite a burden. So much has happened in the last four centuries. So what I'll do is zip through some of the highlights. 

In 1665, Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck graduated as the first Native American or first nation person from Harvard. He was from the Wampanoag tribe here in the Coast. In 1692, in the shadows of the Salem witch trials, Harvard presented its very first honorary degrees. And that was to leaders that I think have names that might be familiar to a couple of people here William Brattle, John Leverett, Increase Mather, and these were the leaders that helped Harvard stay afloat during particularly turbulent times. 

I mentioned earlier, Wadsworth house, which is where the commencement office is. President Ben Wadsworth and his wife, Ruth, had the house built in 1727, making it the very first building where a president lived on campus. And what was neat is in 1775, George Washington commandeered it. He asked nicely in the opening part of the Revolutionary War was planned there before he moved over to Longfellow house. 

The history of commencements is not without some disruption, as pandemics or war have canceled these festival rights. One funny thing is, in 1644, there were no students who met the criteria, so there was no commencement. But we've had them since then, which just some occasions, like in the 1700s, because of smallpox, we had to suspend that. 

In 1774, Harvard's corporation voted, and I quote, "there will be no public commencement this year" end quote. And that was due to the British occupation of Boston and the relocation of most of our students elsewhere out of Cambridge. And so we really didn't resume commencement until 1781. All right. Just a couple of quick highlights here. 

In 1831, the author and essayist Richard Whately was receiving an honorary degree. And the president was really moved by his oratory skills and ask this honorand to deliver an address. He was just such a beautiful speaker. And that was the first commencement speaker that ever occurred, not just at Harvard, but across the entire nation. And that was in 1831. 

Late in the 1860s, there was a lot of confusion. There was a lot of people, and there were alums who got together to volunteer. They formed what was called the Committee for happy observance of commencement. They are lovingly called the Happy committee now. And they dressed in top hat and tails, as was the attire of the time. And for our families who will be at commencement in just 2 and 1/2 months, you'll see alums in top hat and tails. That tradition endures from the 1650s, where we have a fabulous group of alumni who come in to serve as ushers and guides. 

All right, I'll skip some of those. And oh, this is a good one. And 1943, Winston Churchill was honored in a special convocation, and there were so many troops anticipated to come to see that, that we used Tercentenary Theater, which is the space between Widener Library and Memorial Church. And it was just a fantastic convocation that leadership was so just delighted by how that was run. And the years following that. That's where commencement was hosted. And that really wasn't until the 1940s. 

Cool fact, 1955, Helen Keller got an honorary degree and made history, because she was the first woman to get one at Harvard, which clearly took way too long. She was 75 years old, and the citation on her honorary degree read, from a still dark world. She has brought us light and sound. Our lives are richer for her faith as example. And she actually, with help from Annie Sullivan, said a few words, which is pretty remarkable thing. 

All right, just a couple more points, Katie. A couple more points, and then I'll stop. 1986 for all of our families here who will be celebrating with class of 2026. The banners were flown in Harvard Yard, the banners of the houses and the schools. And that was for 350th. We've kept the tradition alive ever since. 

2020, we did host our first virtual graduation, conferring the degrees, of course, but we didn't cancel it. That was hosted in person in 2022 when it was safe to do that. And it was that same year that we decoupled the annual gathering of the Alumni Association. We moved that one week after to when reunions now are, and in 2022, that was the first year that the commencement speaker actually spoke at commencement. And so I'll stop there. There's five more pages of my brief summary, but I'll leave it there. 

Stephan, every time you do that, I learn a dozen new things. It's really quite remarkable about our storied history with this event. I know now that our families are really excited about experiencing this themselves, so I was hoping you could share a little bit about what a parent or family member or a guest might expect on the day of commencement. Like how many tickets do they receive? When is ticket pick up? How does all of this logistically come together and work? 

That is an awesome question. You as a guest do not pick up the tickets. Your child does. The seniors will visit John's team with the senior desk and that is where they will pick up tickets. They pick up tickets for class day, for themselves, and four guests, and they pick up tickets to commencement itself. They'll receive four tickets. I hate to say that there are not additional tickets, but there aren't. Space is very limited. Fitting 30,000 people into the yard. However, there may be my colleagues at the houses might share a little bit more about opportunities. Sometimes one or two extra guests might watch it live streamed there. 

So again, your student will pick up the tickets at senior desk. That's usually the first week of May. John can correct me if I'm wrong there. The thing to expect a couple of things are really important. The gates open on commencement day at 6:45 and seats fill up rather quickly, generally by 7:30, 7:45 they are pretty much taken. And then there's overflow space. There's overflow space by Lamont Houghton quadrangle. There's overflow space elsewhere, by whatnot, Holworthy or Thayer. 

But if you want a really great seat, I really encourage you to be there early. Luggage is not allowed in. I have to say that, tickets are absolutely required. And I will say for those that do have luggage, we will have a luggage storage unit over by the Smith Campus Center. But please don't. You'll be much, much better suited if you keep that luggage at your hotel or wherever you're staying. 

It's a packed house with 8,500 graduates. That takes up a vast majority of that space between Memorial Church and Widener. And so, please remember, a lot of you will be going to class day first where you sit with your graduate. It is so beautiful. You're right up there. That experience is not repeated at commencement, where your graduates and all of the graduates from the schools are seated in that very center space. This is, after all, their day, and we are seated around in the periphery. 

And so I just want to point that out to manage expectations, because it's nothing more disappointing. You go to class day, you sit with your loved one, and then the next day you come back and you realize, you're looking like, where are they. They're way over there. So managing expectations is important. It's something of a long ceremony. It runs about 2 and 1/2 hours long. 

But we have plenty of water stations. There's coffee over by Boylston and many amenities. But I just-- it wraps up. I don't want to go into what happens next, because I think that our friends will cover that. But it usually wraps up around 12:15, depending on how long the commencement speaker goes. And then it's just onwards to more intimate and continued celebratory experiences. So I hope that covers it. I mean, I can go on. I mean, you guys I can go on quite long. 

That's perfect. So one last quick question for you and then we'll hop over to our house friends. But can you talk a little bit about what kind of services are there to help support families with accessibility needs. 

Yes. And I should-- thank you for saying that, because I should have mentioned when your student picks up their four tickets to commencement. If there is a loved one among that group that requires accessibility support, at that senior desk, they may request as long as supplies last to swap two of those tickets for the person with the accessibility request and a companion. Unfortunately, we cannot swap all four because we will run out of space. 

Some of the accessibility support we have a table by Boylston, where one can pick up assistive listening devices. We have braille printed programs available. It's best to reach out in advance just so we make sure we have enough, but we do print a certain allotment of them. There is also courtesy wheelchairs that are wonderful for folks who walk and make it all the way to the gates and need support. They're tired by the long walk. And so we have courtesy wheelchair support, which is great. It's actually pushed by students. Our friends in the Crimson Key Society do that. 

We have American Sign Language interpretation as well. And that's obviously helpful to those who need it. There's van service also. There is on the spot van service through our transportation office. If you're parking at Soldiers Field road or in Allston or wherever you may be parking, and you have a guest who's in a wheelchair or you yourself, you can call this van service by transportation. They'll come and pick you up and bring you right to Harvard Yard. 

All this information, by the way, is on the commencement website. It's all in planning your visit. One last piece of advice. This is more for the juniors. Parents of juniors and seniors, please plan to book your hotel one year in advance. I cannot recommend that the hotels around this area fill up so quickly. They fill up so, so quickly. And so if you're the parent of a junior, I encourage you to make a little note in your calendar late May early June and call that hotel. Make those reservations for your favorite place to stay. 

And for those that are seniors, parents for seniors, we do have recommendations. We do have hotels in the area, including Boston and some of the newer local neighboring communities where you can make accommodations, because I know that's always a frustrating part of the experience. And I wish I could make more hotels, but I can't. 

Well, thank you for all your work on this, Stephan. We really appreciate it. I'm going to turn it over to Katie now. 

Thank you so much again. Awesome. So next up we have Carvina. If you can tell us a little bit more about you and your role, and then we'll get into a little bit more about your role in the houses during commencement. 

That sounds great. My name is Carvina Williams. I am the undergraduate coordinator of the Dudley Community. Which is a community for our non-residential students. A lot of them are our military veterans, parents, and those students who live in the Co-op, the cooperative housing on Mass Ave. 

I think I have been here through seven Harvard presidents. Yes, I did start when I was 10. So we have it there. So you don't have to worry about that. Still young, still ready to go. And in my office as the undergraduate coordinator, every house has a role. In some houses it's called the academic coordinator. But at Dudley I do several roles. 

So we work very, very closely with our friends in the registrar, our support in the registrar, with helping students get to that Thursday, that last Thursday in May and help them do that successfully, and to get all they can out of this amazing place. Oh, I'm also the mother of twin boys. 

[CHUCKLES] 

Thank you so much, Carvina. So as our previous panelists alluded to there are some things happening at the house for our students and families during commencement day. Can you talk a little bit about what happens after they leave the large commencement in the yard and make their way towards the houses. What does it look like? What can families expect? 

Sure. After you are dismissed from the main commencement, you should head back to your student's house or community. And there, that's when the actual diploma ceremony will be held. That's where you will get to hear your student's names called, middle name included, along with their concentration. And some houses will do honors, some not. But it's a very intimate ceremony. You take your time, the students take their time to walk and just acknowledge this moment for all of you as family, as friends, as supporters. 

After that ceremony. And houses do it differently. Some houses will have the lunch, the commencement day luncheon at the house first, and then do their diploma ceremony. And other houses obviously will do it in reverse. But both of those are great opportunity for families to celebrate. Whether you're eating your lunch with your diploma or you're eating your lunch, so excited to get your diploma so. You can have your students talk to their academic coordinator, obviously talk to their house administrator, who can actually give you the complete happening of how it works in that day. 

On class day, there is generally a reception after the class day ceremonies for students at their faculty, deans, residents, usually for the Dudley it's at the Dean of Students residents. And while you all are enjoying class day. The academic coordinators and undergraduate coordinator are actually picking up your students diplomas. We read every single name. We open every single envelope to make sure everything is OK. And of course, because we work with our wonderful friends at the registrar, it always is so. 

That's amazing. Thank you so much. I would-- 

You are welcome. 

--like to just bring up one more quick question that Stephan mentioned earlier. And I know you said it's different per house, but is there an opportunity for families to watch the commencement ceremony live at the house? 

Yes, there is. Usually and I and I'm sure that Shannon can speak more about that. But every house provides a space for people to be able to watch there, and that's really a great option. I get here at 5 in the morning and there's always a line, and if it's hot or rainy, sometimes it's just nice to be able to go and watch it in a comfortable place. 

So asking your student to find out where that is. We had Dudley, because we have a lot of students with children. We open ours up and it's just a much more pleasant for everyone, for them to have that space instead of being in the yard for that long. 

That's amazing. Thank you so much Carvina. We really appreciate your-- 

You are welcome. 

--insight and knowledge. And Shannon, I'm going to pass it over to you. If you could tell us a little bit more about yourself and your role. 

Hi, everyone. As I mentioned, my name is Shannon, and I currently serve as the Mather House administrator. That role oversees a lot of the residential experiences that your students will participate in. So going and managing the housing lottery, making sure that there are lots of really lovely folks to greet them as they're moving into their houses when they're sophomores, and then making sure that during their time there that there are traditions and programs and events for them to partake in. So I really love my job, and it's a privilege to get to work with your students. So thank you for sharing them with us. 

Well, we love all the work that you and the rest of our incredible Res life staff do to really build community. One of the things that came up just a little bit earlier tonight was this idea of an off-cycle graduation. So we do have some students who graduate throughout the year. Can you explain to us a little bit more about that and the process for their own graduations. 

Yeah, absolutely. So by no means is any Harvard student like another. So each of them have their own paths, and sometimes that means they finish early, and sometimes that means that there is either a break or a leave for any number of reasons. The startup culture at Harvard can be really compelling to participate in. 

So there are times that students go off to chase a dream and then come back to their studies when they're ready. This means that their four year process is a little bit different than some of our other students. And so Erika mentioned before this concept of a November or a February or March graduate. And so those folks are people that are finishing, not at the same time as everyone else, but have completed the same number of credits. 

And so those folks just require a little bit more planning. And so one of the things that is important to note is that every student is only able to participate once in both senior week and the commencement ceremonies. So if they are off-cycle, they might determine that they want to graduate or excuse me, they would like to walk at the commencement ceremony with everybody in their social class. And that could be the right choice for them. Or they could choose to wait until after all of their credits are finished and graduate, perhaps a year with some time in between the actual time that they finished and their ceremony. 

So what that means is that they just need to let somebody know ahead of time. Ideally with ample time to prepare. We have to worry about things like their access and turning on their card, making sure that we include all of their information on the printed programs, and just making sure that they have a chance to participate fully in both senior week and the diploma ceremony. But all of that being said, the actual task there is either letting your academic coordinator, your HA and and/or your resident dean know ahead of time that is your plan. 

That's such great advice. And truly, every situation is unique. Speaking of unique situations, sometimes our families also require accessibility needs or special situations for the house ceremony. So what might be your insight and advice for families navigating that. 

Absolutely. So my dad was a wheelchair user. And so this is something that I think about a lot. And for folks that have accessibility needs, it just takes a lot of planning to make sure that the space is ready for both you and your family. All of that being said, the same answer as before. 

Ideally, your students will let somebody know. Usually the person that's in my role at the house that somebody either needs access to an accessible seat. So making sure that something is wheelchair accessible if they have any hearing or vision related needs. Those are things that we can plan for. 

Really, the thing that gives us the ability to make accommodations is time. And so I will speak for my colleagues in that we will do all that we can with the time that we're given. If somebody shows up the morning of or even in the afternoon and says, I need this really specific thing, we would have loved to make that happen, but we just probably won't be able to make magic happen the day of. 

So all of that being said you know your needs and your family's needs best. You can get in contact. All of our emails are online and your student will start if they haven't already receiving outreach from folks or from people from the house. That will be asking specifically if your guests have any accommodations needs, please either fill out this form, send an email, give us a call, or stop by. 

Really just hoping that we can get as much information as we can. Because the other thing is that our houses can be really lovely and again filled with tradition and history. Traditionally, houses were not built to be really accessible. And so there are just some times where we need to make different paths or different solutions available. 

I think that's right. And I think you have before been able to help navigate really tricky situations. And I suspect your answer on this one will be similar. What the heck happens if one family has two different students graduating from two different houses on the same day? 

Well, first I would say congratulations to that family, because what a thing it is to have two students graduating from the college. I mean, amazing. And what a big task. So first, again, this idea of planning ahead of time, you can attend one, attend both. You can split the family and do halfsies. But what a couple of-- so we have a couple of options here. 

First is that not-- or excuse me, students can walk in a different house if they would prefer to. So if one person feels really close to the house community, despite maybe not being formally assigned to there with enough notice, again, we can make a lot of things happen. There is a lot of gymnastics actually involved in this particular work. 

So if your student is interested in making that swap and really if it's family related, sometimes we have partners who are interested. So people who are in a romantic relationship who would like to walk together, that is certainly something to think about. And sometimes we just have folks that are really lovely for a really good friends, and they just want to be together and watch their friends walk across the stage. 

So if you let your academic coordinator know ahead of time. Again, we can make a lot of things work. There are some limits to this for houses that have particularly large senior classes. So the earlier that they reach out, the better chance there is of that being approved. 

So the other thing that is worth noting is that all of the diploma ceremonies are videotaped. So even if you are there and you just want to relive that moment, everything will be available and captioned later on. This is really worth noting. Not that there are limits to families that are attending, or that most houses do not have a limit on the size of families that are able to join us that day. 

But we know that there are sometimes travel limitations. And also, just like sometimes it's really hard to get there. It is on a Thursday in the middle of the week, so there are opportunities for people who aren't present to still be a part of that experience. 

Awesome. Thanks for that, Shannon. We normally would go around and have everyone share one last bit of advice, but we're running out of time. And Shannon, I know you have a really important bit of advice, so I want you to be the final say for us. What is one piece of advice that you would like to give? 

This is such a spectacular day. And Stephan, I really would agree that it is just one of the most joyous moments. It is then followed by perhaps one of the more stressful moments in that commencement day is also a packing day. It's also moving day. And a lot of folks will get to the-- a lot of our students will be so focused on spending these last moments with their students that they absolutely forget that they have four years worth of items that they've accumulated in their room waiting to be packed. 

I would love to share some advice that I have gathered over my last 10 years, which is finals is for packing. Senior week is for living out of a suitcase and with a great time. So that way you have all the time to be with your friends. And then that way you can sincerely enjoy commencement day without having to make sure that your family also brought along comfortable packing shoes. 

Such brilliant advice. Thank you so much for putting that into the universe. I hope people share it with their students because it's quite brilliant. Katie. 

It absolutely is. And thank you so much to all of our panelists and for all of our families, loved ones joining us today. We really, really appreciate it. If you have any questions for the many folks that joined us today, here are all their emails. How you can contact them. I'll leave them up for just a moment. But if you do ever have any questions and you lose this information, you can always email us again, we are more than happy to connect you where you need. 

Next up we have two more webinars as we mentioned for this semester. So next we have the Office for the Arts at Harvard on March 24, and then our end of the year academic wrap-up on April 1. So very excited for these next two webinars, and we really appreciate everyone joining us. Once again. Here is our email if you need absolutely anything. But thank you all so, so much. Thank you to all of our panelists. Hope you all have a lovely evening. And hopefully, it's still a little warm or light out where you are everyone.