Cougars & Mustangs 

Wow ... hard to believe it’s only about a week until Commencement at Cal Poly ... How does it feel? Is it incredible? Nerve-wracking? Are you just glad to finally have it done? Well, despite not yet having graduated myself, I know that I am not overgeneralizing when I say that this a ceremony that is important to hordes of students and their loved ones.

As you help your extended relations, unfamiliar perhaps with the landscape of SLO, settle in to their hotels and muraled vans, it’s important to remember Murphy’s Law. Sometimes, at important events like these, even if they’ve managed to make it all the way into town for the event, freak allergic reactions or emergency work calls can interfere with their viewings of the event. Luckily, Cal Poly’s Fall Commencement 2014, which, of course, occurs thrice on Saturday, Dec. 13 (at the times of 9 a.m., 1 p.m., and 4 p.m., in the main gymnasium in the ASI Recreation Center), will be live-streamed online for those who were held up ... however close they got. Said live-streams will be viewable (with close-captioning, even!) at studentaffairs.calpoly.edu/commencement-live-stream.

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Now, according to my sources, this year’s fall commencement will be extra exciting (as if that’s even a thing—could any graduation be more exciting than your own? Well, I suppose that of your children …)! The reason for this hubbub is that new elements are to be integrated into the fall commencement ceremonies, such as a retrospective slideshow of graduating students during the processional, the “proud pinning” ceremony, and, apparently, some manner of celebratory surprise. I’m hoping it’s the hiring of Cougie the Cuesta Cougar to unload a smooth jazzy arrangement of “Pomp and Circumstance” on that saxophone. But as much as that could help ease relations between the college factions, there’s still a long way to go before a treatise is signed, so that’s probably not happening any time soon.

As a reminder, the 9 a.m. ceremony features the College of Architecture, Food & Environmental Sciences, as well as the College of Science & Mathematics. The 1 p.m. ceremony features graduation candidates from the College of Liberal Arts and the Orfalea College of Business. Finally, the 4 p.m. ceremony recognizes graduate candidates from the College of Architecture & Environmental Design and the College of Engineering. This year’s theme is “Mustangs Forever!” And, thankfully, permits are not required for parking on campus during commencement. You’ve made it very far now, Mustangs. The road ahead is still dangerous and scary, requiring no less effort than what you’ve had to put in so far. But it feels good to know you’re still on that road, right?

Contributor Chris White-Sanborn was going to speak at the event, but reports of his valedictorian eligibility were greatly exaggerated. Send collegiate news to [email protected].