Leading off at Petco Park for San Diego State University’s Commencement 2021 ... the College of Education!
On May 25, the ballpark where Padres fans cheer on Fernando Tatis, Jr. and Manny Machado will transform into a venue to celebrate future All Stars of the education field. COE’s in-person ceremony will be the first of seven SDSU ceremonies hosted over three days at Petco Park — a 42,000-seat outdoor venue that will allow for safe, physically-distanced gatherings amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr. Lisa McCully, director of COE’s Office for Student Success, has been a part of every COE commencement ceremony since 1999 — and she believes there is ample reason to be excited.
“Given the fact that we're coming out of a very difficult year, we're actually going to be together — that is super exciting on its own,” McCully said. “And we're going to be together in probably the most beautiful sports venue in this country. There is no doubt that Petco Park is awesome, and I think the level of excitement that comes with that is going to turn our ceremony into a much more exciting event.”
It will be a truly unique ceremony — both in its venue as well as its logistics.
About 1,100 COE graduates registered for the event — larger than the 800 that attend in a typical year. The increase is due to the fact that Class of 2020 graduates, who were not able to have an in-person ceremony last year because of the pandemic, were also invited back to take part.
Master’s and bachelor’s graduates will be seated, with distancing protocols in place, around the ballpark’s lower deck. Faculty and doctoral candidates will be spread out in seating on the field, while students’ guests will be in Petco Park’s upper levels. Stadium concessions will be open for those wishing to purchase refreshments.
A small platform party made up of President Adela de la Torre, Provost Salvador Hector Ochoa, Dean Y. Barry Chung and other select dignitaries will be seated on the main stage. There will be a smaller stage set up in front for students to walk across to take their graduation photo and bask in their individual moment on Petco Park’s 61-foot by 123-foot video board.
Perhaps the biggest difference in this year’s ceremony is that it will be contact-free. Students will not receive handshakes when crossing the stage. There will also be no formal hooding ceremony for doctoral and master’s degree students. McCully explained that students will be expected to arrive with their hoods on, ready to walk (see the video below for how to correctly wear your hood).
“We're the first ceremony in a brand new venue with a whole different situation — as an event coordinator, that's scary,” she said, laughing. “But we’ve been meeting weekly for a long time, and I’d really like to give a shoutout to (advising and recruitment specialist) Jackie Fuller for keeping our students and faculty in the loop.
“It takes a village to graduate one student."