For months, Pat Moore has been planning and preparing his plans for one single day.
Thousands of people, thousands of hours and thousands of chairs.
But Moore, a Taylor University maintenance manager, is not the only person in charge of making sure the venue is ready for commencement day.
“I don't know of a single department that's not involved in commencement, either academics or facility services or the president's office or media services or conferences or the registrar's office,'' Moore said.
Each department at Taylor must do its unique job in order for the event to be possible.
“As the maintenance manager, I am coordinating with the other departments so that we all work together and we have a common goal,” Moore said.
As part of the facilities staff, Moore’s team is responsible for all of the chairs, stage setup and other aspects of setup that include Taylor-owned equipment.
“So I've got a crew of 12 that I work with, and they basically like on Monday (before commencement) are going to start marking the floor in the KSAC, and that takes approximately 32-35 man hours.”
Then, on the Thursday morning before commencement, Moore and his maintenance crew spend five to six hours setting up the chairs, ensuring that each one is in its proper place.
Currently, the team plans to set up 4,383 chairs. This number fluctuates as time goes on, and they will not know the exact number of how many graduates are walking until a couple days before commencement.
Housekeeping, grounds and maintenance are involved during the entire event, working from five or six in the morning until the event’s end and teardown occurs.
“Almost everyone I know is doing it because it's for the students,” Moore said. “It's about their graduation. It's not about who's speaking, it's not about the party up there, who's singing. It’s for the students.”
Much of what you see at commencement would not be possible without the coordination of Joyce Wood. Wood is the commencement coordinator and has been responsible for organizing commencement since 2008.
“(Wood and her team) are the ones saying: How many students are we going to have? How many faculty? Who's going to be the speaker? How many guests sit on the stage versus off the stage?” Moore said. “So she does that stuff and then she communicates to us.”
With a budget of $60,000, several months of planning and hundreds of hours of set up, commencement will take place on Saturday, May 21.
“This year’s commencement is the first one we’ve done in recent years that is most like earlier years — 2018 and previous,” Wood said. “The last three years have been marked by either special speaker circumstances (Mike Pence and Secret Service, additional seating, unique decor) or COVID-related distancing (2020 outdoors, and 2021 with distancing and masks).”
Although Wood has a long to-do list to check off in a timely manner prior to the commencement ceremony, she looks forward to when all her hard work will pay off.
“The most rewarding part is watching it all unfold and celebrating our graduates on that day,” Wood said.
As Chief of Police, Jeff Wallace is in charge of maintaining the overall safety and security of the event.
“We treat all events with the same focus on safety and security for all involved,” Wallace said. “We want the event to be an amazing experience for everyone, and to do that people need to feel safe. With an event the size of commencement, obviously a focus will be on the numbers of officers present for the scene. And with any large crowd there could be other emergency needs necessitating other emergency personnel, fire, EMS, additional police, etc. We are the front lines to bring proper additional response if necessary.”
Wallace, Wood and Moore are just three of the people who play key roles in the preparation, organization and execution of the commencement ceremony. They have spent, and continue to spend, countless hours ensuring that the ceremony will be meaningful and memorable for 2022 Taylor graduates.
For Moore, helping with commencement is a way for him to help support and recognize a multi-million dollar educational investment that the graduating class has collaboratively made.
“People have spent a lot of money to get to this point,” Moore said. “Let’s see what we can do to make it right for them.”
For Moore, helping with commencement is a way for him to help support and recognize a multi-million dollar educational investment that the graduating class has collaboratively made.
Wood recognizes how her work as commencement coordinator is a way to serve others and give glory to God.
“Commencement is a wonderful time for us to honor God; to recognize the accomplishments of our grads, their families and faculty who have impacted their lives; and celebrate Christ-centered academic excellence at TU,” Wood said. “We wish the graduates well as they embark on their next phase of their lives and trust their Taylor experience has been a rich and rewarding time in their lives.”
