HutchCC Graduation Ceremony and Details

By Cassidy Peterson
Staff writer
Email: thehutchinsoncollegian@gmail.com

As students settle back into a routine and advance in their course, they also begin to look for the light at the end of the tunnel – the end of the semester.

For about 450 HutchCC students that means thinking about caps, gowns and graduation.

HutchCC Degree Audit Specialist, Kat Eberly, discusses graduation and all of the details students need to know to prepare for it.

The first piece of information she shares is that graduation applications are due March 10. Students who can apply include those who will be earning a credential, this can come from the fall, spring, or summer semester.

To acquire a mandatory graduation application, grads should contact their advisor, then fill out and submit the application to the Records Office, pay the $30 graduation fee in the Business Office in the Parker Student Union.

Eberly said that students can submit an application after the deadline up to the day of the graduation ceremony. Getting the application in on time just ensures that students’ names will be in the graduation program.

Students who submit a graduation application should receive a letter from the President’s Office at the beginning of April that will give them more details on graduation.

March 25-26 is gown pick up in the foyer of the union from 9 a.m.-3 p.m., for those who cannot make it those days the cap and gowns will be available for pick up during normal office hours in the Records Office or if a student is unable to make it to the main campus, they will need to contact the Records Office and coordinate how to get their gown.

The graduation ceremony will take place on May 9 at 7 p.m. in the Hutchinson Sports Arena. Eberly says that caps can be decorated as long as they are appropriate. Another common question that Eberly answers is that there is no graduation rehearsal.

She also took a moment to acknowledge all of the departments that help out with the commencement ceremony including Academic Affairs, the President’s Office, Records Office, faculty, maintenance, and more.

“It’s an incredibly well attended ceremony, the Sports Arena is packed and that is really neat to see,” Eberly said. “We will have some students who travel, especially in our Health Information programs that are online. Students are from all over and will come, it is really neat to see.”     

HutchCC sophomore, Clayton Shingleton from Haven, said he will be walking at graduation.

“I think it’s important to participate in the ceremony because it’s a big part of your life and not many people actually graduate college,” Shingleton said.

One thing is for certain, it is time for students to look ahead as the semester progresses. If students have questions about graduation, they should contact their academic advisor or the Records Office.

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