As the end of the spring semester approaches, Moorpark College prepares to host a graduation ceremony for all its students that have persevered and completed their studies.
The ceremony will be held Friday, May 17 at 5 p.m. in the upper campus stage quad indicated by the black graduation cap on the east side of campus. Parking will be free for the day. Last year, according to Student Activities Specialist Kristen Robinson, 494 graduates walked in the ceremony. She hopes there will be at least 500 students this year.
“Planning for graduation is a year-long process,” Robinson said. “Planning for 2020 will start May 20 to debrief and see what works and what didn’t.”
Students enrolled in FTVM, Film/Television/Media, will be handling the technical aspects of the ceremony like sound, microphones and a live stream.
The live stream of the 2019 graduation ceremony can be found on the Moorpark College FTMA Youtube. The current link is for last year’s commencement, but it should be updated within a couple of days said Robinson.
Facilities and Maintenance will be taking care of ACCESS, wheelchair and disability accommodations, and an interpreter.
There will be accessible seating for those in wheelchairs and with disabilities, but do note that seating “is available on a first come, first serve basis,” according to Moorpark College’s website.
Interim President Julius Sokenu will run the commencement as President Luis Sanchez is the current Oxnard College Acting President.
“Dr. Sokenu will be speaking as acting president,” said Linda Resendiz, executive assistant to Sokenu. “He’ll be leading [the graduation] and introducing and speaking words to commence. [The ceremony] will have honorary department district faculty and the classified employee of the year and they’ll be calling names of students.”
Many departments and members of the college community are involved in the execution of the ceremony but according to Robinson, it all comes back to the students.
“Sokenu is acting president and it’s his show,” said Robinson. “[But this is] all done in the sake of the students. There are so many different moving parts and the students should be honored they did a lot of work getting to this point.”
For more information on the commencement ceremony be sure to check out the Moorpark College website.
