Rocio Villalobos 
UTRGV – “It is easily one of the best days of the semester.”
Graduation is fast approaching and more than 2,000 students will accept their diplomas at new-to-UTRGV venues.
The McAllen Convention Center has long been the commencement ceremony destination for students from the upper valley and a lawn on the Brownsville campus for students from the lower valley.
But due to lack of availability and unpredictable weather, that is changing.
“There were concerns posed about safety because of course it gets dark and it’s outdoors and its very difficult of course to plan for weather,” said Sofia Montes, university registrar.
Montes says there was an incident during a recent commencement in which inclement weather disrupted the ceremony and it had to be moved to an indoor venue.
“Having already changed the ceremony one time last minute, we realized it’s kind of difficult,” she said.
Fall commencement ceremonies taking place this fall at the Bert Ogden Arena and Harlingen Convention Center.
Thanks to the size of the arena students from Edinburg now receive nine tickets, opposed to the previous five. Those in Brownsville receive three fewer, but Montes said they have the option of attending the ceremony in Edinburg instead.
“For some students it’s more convenient to graduate on a Friday. For others they prefer Saturday because family purposes and some are making location changes specifically to the ticket numbers because they want more tickets.”
She says students will be surveyed soon after the ceremonies to learn about their experience.
As of now, the university has not booked locations for the upcoming spring ceremonies, so the venues could once again change.
“Nothing is set in stone for our spring ceremonies. I know that is still up in the air, but I know our experiences this December will drive in part where we end up in the spring.”
The graduation application for this fall is still available and will remain open until November 15th.
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