Originally published by UBC News

It’s an event that dates back more than 100 years, has involved hundreds of thousands of people, is rife with symbolism, and takes years to plan. Those lucky enough to participate carry the memory with them through their lives. It’s meaningful, it’s joyous, it’s satisfying.

The Olympics? A royal coronation? No, it’s UBC’s graduation ceremony. And to the team at UBC ceremonies and events, it’s serious business.

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The team marshals and directs the collective energies of 33,600 people throughout the process, from the first planning meeting to the last photo taken of a grad and their guests. There are 28 unique congregation ceremonies over seven days on the UBC Vancouver campus each spring. Every event sees about 300 graduates walk across the stage to accept their degrees amidst the cheers of more than 1,000 family and friends. By the end of the week more than 7,000 students will accept their degrees on stage, and about 16,000 slices of cake will have been served. Thanks to the dedicated professionals and volunteers, each ceremony feels fresh and personal, despite the deeply historic and formal nature of the events.

According to Liz King, director of ceremonies and events at UBC, the secret is in collaboration. Almost nothing is done independently by one team or one group exclusively.

“We have a graduation operations committee that includes 40 to 50 individuals representing academic and non-academic departments across campus,” said King. “Enrolment services, brand and marketing, UBC bookstore, UBC parking, Alumni UBC, colleagues from across faculties—there is someone from the majority of UBC faculties and units involved in graduation.”

Not to mention community volunteers or the many vendors and partners working behind the scenes to make graduation a success.

The ceremonies and events team has a staff of nearly a dozen full-time and part-time employees, and they are typically working in overdrive come spring. Four ceremonies are held each day in the Chan Centre for Performing Arts during grad week, and the team begins planning for them three or four years in advance. In other words, as soon as a new class begins their first year of study at UBC, the team is preparing for their graduation ceremony.

“In the beginning we just look at the numbers—how many students are enrolled in the university for a given year, is it more than the previous year and will we require more space or more ceremonies, or both, to accommodate them when they are ready to graduate?” said King. “Nine months out from a class’ graduation date we start to look at the special considerations each class presents and how the ceremonies will come together.”