A recent graduate, McKenzie Fawcett, said her graduation ceremony was a blur.

She was one of about 1,600 students who participated in the three commencement ceremonies Saturday, May 7.

This year was the first time the undergraduate commencement ceremony was split into two ceremonies. There were three commencements, two undergraduate and one graduate.

The undergraduate ceremonies split this year because a number of students participated and their family members wanted to watch their child graduate, said Rhoda Smith, the commencement coordinator. She was assisted by Jamison Lamp, professional and special programs coordinator.

Smith said multiple people and groups across campus contributed to putting together the ceremony.

“It takes an incredible team of people from across the university to make it happen,” she said.

Currently, Smith does not have the overall cost for the three ceremonies, but she said her team tried to keep the cost of the events down.

 

“We really made a commitment to have three commencements for the price of two. We really didn’t increase budgets from last year,” she said.

For Fawcett, she only remembers “bits and pieces” of her ceremony, but she thought it was a successful event.

“I’m really excited to be going out into the ‘real world,’” Fawcett said. “I’m sad that I won’t be around my friends every day, but I think we all know that it was going to end at some point.”

Overall, Smith thinks the ceremonies went well.

“We always learn a few things that we’ll probably adjust or modify for next year. We had a great team of people to make three ceremonies happen,” Smith said. “It was a great day for SDSU.”