Last November, FRCC’s Transitional Commencement Committee released its final recommendations, which can be summarized as follows:
- Two ceremonies – One close to Larimer campus, one close to Westminster, with Boulder Campus students splitting the difference.
- Two times – One weekday evening and one Saturday morning, “if possible.”
- Two speakers – One “prominent or noteworthy” speaker, and one student speaker.
- Two hours – Professional name announcers, thoughtfully organizing students, and other “industry best practices” to limit the ceremony length to two hours.
- Transportation – “FRCC should explore offering transportation options for students to travel between campuses and the ceremony locations.”
- Engagement – Events in the run-up to graduation, a social media campaign, pre-ceremony celebrations, and other strategies to boost engagement.
While most of these recommendations will be implemented for this year’s commencement, one notable recommendation will have to wait for 2025. “The committee’s recommendation to have two commencement ceremonies is not one we were able to implement this year because of venue availability,” Beryl Durazo, Executive Director of the FRCC Foundation & Community Partnerships, told The Front Page in an email. “[The Transitional Commencement Committee] determined that Blue Arena was the only venue large enough to host our ceremony that could be secured with such a relatively short notice.”
Blue Arena, formerly the Budweiser Events Center, which the college placed a hold on last summer, is located in Loveland about 18-28 minutes (11.9mi) from the Larimer campus, about 30-50 minutes (29mi) from the Boulder campus, and about 40-55 minutes (40.6mi) from the Westminster campus, according to Google Maps.
“I understand why they did it up there, but it would have been better either if they had it closer or if they were doing what they did before where they had [three] separate graduations,” Jose Perez, the Westminster Campus Student Government President, said. “And it’s not like, ‘Oh, I hate the One College thing,’ [it’s] just … easier for people, and you’ve got family closer to you, so it’s like- If I have an uncle … somewhere south, to ask them to go all the way up there? They’re not gonna go.”
While many students may find the location inconvenient, the administration stresses that they had few options, “With the recent closure of the 1st Bank Center in Broomfield, the Transitional Commencement Committee (which included a student representative) conducted extensive research to determine other venue options that had availability to host the ceremony in May 2024,” Durazo said. “Both the Transitional Commencement Committee and the Commencement Planning Team explored many venue options across the Front Range, including venues in Denver, Golden, Boulder, Lafayette, Loveland, Fort Collins and all sites in between.”
One example of a venue that the committee looked into, but ultimately decided against, was the Denver Coliseum. “The Denver Coliseum did not have a date available for the May 2024 ceremony that aligned with our schedule,” Gabriel Castaño, VP of Enrollment Management and Student Success told The Front Page in an email. “The Coliseum had multiple other events that would have impacted the student and guest experience at our commencement. This included two exhibition-based events that the event organizer discussed and felt could create a challenge for the FRCC planning team and commencement guests.”
Additionally, the administration emphasizes that the choice to host the ceremony at Blue Arena was the result of research and deliberation. “The decision to host the ceremony at Blue Arena stems from the thorough research conducted by the Transitional Commencement Committee, which revealed limitations in capacity and accessibility at alternative venues,” Durazo said. “With more than 5,000 participants, including students and guests, no other venue aligned with the May ceremony schedule and accommodated our requirements within the limited planning time.”
She added that, “Despite not being able to book another suitable venue for May 2024, we are already looking for options for May 2025.”
That said, students who are attending graduation this year still face challenges in getting to the event. “I hope they compensate gas, because I don’t have any family up there and I don’t have anyone who’s going to carpool with me, so who knows?” Perez said. “So yeah, I just hope they do something about that. Maybe even like, I’d be willing to join a bus or something going up there.”
This is something that FRCC’s newest graduation committee, the Commencement Planning Committee, whose role is to plan and organize specific details of the 2024 graduation ceremony, is taking into consideration. “The Commencement Planning Team is researching transportation options to and from the venue for May 2024,” Durazo said. “The college has obtained quotes from several bus companies. We are also exploring other transportation supports, such as discounted rides on ride-share apps such as Uber and Lyft. We are committed to ensuring that transportation is not a barrier to participation in commencement.”
Asked about the impact that this commute could have on attendance, Gabriel Castaño said, “100% of our survey respondents were willing to travel up to 35 min. 82% were willing to travel up to 45 min. 18% were willing to travel up to 1 hour. We believe that by providing an improved and noteworthy commencement ceremony, a majority of graduates will be willing to travel up to 45 minutes for this ceremony.”
“Despite challenges in securing additional space for a second commencement ceremony this academic year, we remain committed to delivering an exceptional event for our students on May 9, 2024, at the Blue Arena in Loveland,” Castaño said.
As far as the recommendations that will be implemented, “For this year, we are optimistic that FRCC can implement the Transitional Commencement Committee’s recommendations related to increasing opportunities for student recognition, as well as launching a “Countdown to Commencement” series of events/activities across our campuses,” Durazo said. “We are also confident that we will be able to proceed with the committee’s recommendation to limit our commencement speakers to one noteworthy/prominent speaker, and one student speaker, and we are committed to developing creative ways to keep this event under 3 hours in length (and closer to 2 hours if possible), as the committee recommended.”
“The Commencement Planning Team will work to bring the committee’s full recommendations to life next year,” Castaño said. “Our primary focus is on elevating the ceremony for an outstanding student experience and ensuring that considerations are made to help graduates and guests attend, including providing transportation support from our campuses, and exploring early campus closures to allow additional time for travel.”
One additional recommendation that will have to wait for 2025 is to have one of the commencement ceremonies on Saturday. “One of the reasons for convening the Transitional Commencement Committee was to ensure that more students (and their loved ones) can attend graduation,” Castaño said. “For the spring 2024 commencement ceremony, the Commencement Planning Committee and the Transitional Commencement Committee were not able to secure a venue with Saturday availability. But the planning committee is already working to identify venues for a Saturday commencement ceremony for FRCC’s spring 2025 commencement.”
As for what students think of the upcoming graduation, “[I’m just glad that] graduation is happening, so we’re very happy that our students do get to graduate and they’ll get their ceremonies,” Perez said. “Preferably, it would have been better if it was more localized, but again [it’s] understandable. If anything, let’s just hope it goes well.
