Rider announces 2017 Commencement plans and new Senior Week celebration

Rider University announced on Sept. 20 that its 2017 Commencement Ceremony will be held at 2 p.m. on Friday, May 12, at the Sun National Bank Center in Trenton, N.J. The Westminster Choir College commencement ceremony will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, May 13, at the Princeton University Chapel. The University also announced plans for a new Senior Week Celebration, in the days leading up to Commencement.
 This marks the first year in recent history that Rider’s Lawrenceville Commencement will be held off-campus, and the undergraduate and graduate and College of Continuing Studies (CCS) ceremonies will be combined into one.
 Beverly Braddock, special events and projects manager in the President’s Office, said there are many reasons for this decision. 
 “We want Commencement to be the best possible experience for graduates and their guests,” she said. “Moving to an indoor venue that can accommodate more people in a comfortable, accessible environment is essential to achieving that goal.”
 Holding Commencement ceremonies at The Sun National Bank Center will allow the University to offer more ceremony tickets per student than it is currently able to provide when inclement weather forces Commencement indoors.
 “We won’t have weather worries or the need for a rain plan, which meant we always had to have two ceremony set-ups on campus (indoors and outdoors),” Braddock said. “It is much more economical to hold one ceremony at the Sun National Bank Center than it is to pay for double stage and chair rentals and AV and lighting as we have been doing.”  
 Braddock assured students that every graduate’s name will still be read aloud during graduation, even though the two ceremonies are being combined into one. “We anticipate the entire ceremony to be less than three hours,” she said.
 There are still some logistical details of Commencement that are being discussed, and Braddock said students will be informed of these details as plans are finalized. “In addition to future communications about Commencement, students and families can check our website at www.rider.edu/commencement for the most up-to-date information,” she said.
 Another new and exciting change for the Class of 2017 is the creation of a Senior Week Celebration, to begin on the last day of exams, Tuesday, May 9, 2017, and lead up to the day of graduation. Braddock said the celebration will feature many events, both on and off campus, for seniors to enjoy. “A committee of students, including the senior class leadership and the Student Government Association (SGA) are guiding the plans for Senior Week,” Braddock said. “Just like Commencement, we’ll be sharing those details as they are finalized with all of our graduating students.” 
 Braddock said the University will incorporate new and existing traditions into Senior Week, like the Senior BBQ initiated by President and Mrs. Dell’Omo last year, and the tradition of touching the Rider Rock. “We want to make sure touching the Rider Rock continues to be a longstanding tradition for Rider seniors,” she said.
 Unlike in the past, seniors will not need to leave campus prior to Commencement, but rather will be able to stay in residence halls to enjoy their last days at Rider with classmates. Braddock said students who live off-campus, commuters, as well as on-campus seniors, are strongly encouraged to stay, or even move back for a few days, to participate in all of the fun activities being planned before graduation.
 She said, “We want graduation to be a memorable, enjoyable time for our seniors and their families. We are taking these steps to assure that everyone can celebrate, spend time together, and participate in the Commencement ceremony with their loved ones in attendance. We’ll all be working together to make Commencement 2017 an incredible experience for our graduates.”