Waubonsee moving May graduation back to main campus

Due to increased participation, Waubonsee Community College plans to have two graduation ceremonies next May.

And it will bring the ceremony back to its new field house on the main campus in Sugar Grove.

"What we see are two ceremonies in our future," Melinda James, vice president of student development, told the college's board of trustees Wednesday.

James said the number of students who want to participate has risen 10 to 15 percent a year the last few years. It couldn't accommodate all the students, plus the relatives and friends who wanted to attend the ceremony, and so limited participation. At least 20 students couldn't participate this year, she said.

The last two years, the ceremony was held at the Paramount Theater, which is near the college's downtown Aurora campus.

Splitting into two ceremonies means, however, that they will be conducted on a Saturday, due to the amount of time involved. Past ceremonies were conducted on a weeknight.

The climate should be much better than when graduations were conducted in the Erickson Hall gymnasium: the new field house has air conditioning.