2023 Commencement | Susan Saulnier

RINGLING COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN 2023 COMMENCEMENT REDESIGN

Left to right: Elijah Adams, Brendan Assaf, Hailey Bair, Wren Skye, Indy C., me.

In the fall of 2022, I was informed by the head of my major and the Vice President of Student Life that I would be overseeing a graduation redesign. One of my 'duties-as-assigned' in the Coordinator of Volunteerism role was also the volunteer coordinator for commencement. There was also the added bonus that I was a senior in Entertainment Design, and this would be my graduation as well.

PITCH DECK
FALL 2022

Before the semester began, I knew I had to learn more about commencement. I knew that the event space was already reserved, along with seating, set up, take down, security, and the day-of-graduation ceremony schedule set as a copy-and-paste from last year, so what exactly was the goal? I met with staff in alumni relations and anyone who had any hand in commencement to learn as much as I could about Ringling College's traditions and expectations for the event.

When the fall semester began, I reached out to my student leader teams, the Student Government Association, and department heads to identify interested seniors. We met on Fridays during the lunchtime block, with the promise of a catered lunch from student-suggested and popularly voted for locations to help entice enough students to have at least two represented from all majors. All staff were welcome, and many whom I met with before the semester joined to also gain student input and feedback.

There were an average of 30 students who actively participated every Friday. Together, we brainstormed a theme of 'Resilience.' Students also voiced wanting days meant for celebratory activities to reconnect with classmates after an arduous senior year, which led to the introduction of Senior Week to the traditional commencement events.

FABRICATION
Spring 2023

Armadillo photo opportunity designed by
Wren Skye.

SENIOR WEEK

MONDAY: ZOOM DAY

TUESDAY: HURRICANE DAY

WEDNESDAY: COLOR WAR

THURSDAY: THROWBACK

Feel free to check out the Instagram Page and event highlights. We had a custom jewelry maker come to campus to make free, custom pieces for everyone.

ADDITIONAL EVENTS AND SOCIAL MEDIA

FRIDAY: SENIOR CITIZEN

Each day was themed and planned by the commencement team, with each day having a large celebratory social event for the campus to enjoy with the graduating class.

The commencement gift team worked to have gifts and giveaways loaded in a Ringling College tote bag to accompany the cap-and-gown pick-ups. A screenprint of the graduation design was then used to customize the totes, or anything anyone wanted.

Social Media posts created by Natalie Perez.

Social Media posts created by Maha Yousaf-Ali.

Due to budgets and availability, we were not able to secure exactly what the senior week team envisioned, we were able to bring free ice-cream to the campus for all to enjoy and remained below the budget.

Pin designs created by Sally Tan.

We partnered with the Diversity Department on campus to help promote the screening of a student-created short film about some of the graduating seniors, 40 years in the future looking back at college life with find memories. As a non-traditional student knowing I'm 8 years older than them, I fully committed to the bit, all day long. I spoke in an old lady voice and had Werther's in my purse.

TICKETS AND GIFTS

The commencement gift team worked to have gifts and giveaways loaded in a Ringling College tote bag to accompany the cap-and-gown pick-ups. We used up the college's inventory of tote bags and offered a screen printing day to customize the bags to 2023. Inside of the bags were:
a lanyard in Viva Magenta with the matching organic wave design on the tickets and announcements, both if which are shown to the left, a color-temperature-changing cup with Remy the Armadillo (the school's mascot) in his cap and gown, a small postcard illustration with a contents list of what everything was and who it was from, departmentally, a class pin, and sticker sheets of Remy representing all graduating majors.

Lanyard design by Alisen Grant, class pin designs were provided by the Alumni office, 'contents' postcard illustration and Remy sticker illustrations by Sparky Sparks, vectorized Remy and 'contents' postcard design by Reilly Phillips, announcement and tickets designed by Ringling College Design Center.

PRESIDENT'S RECEPTION

The day before the Graduation Ceremony, the college invites families, faculty, and staff to enjoy appetizers and bites. There are not as many photos because I was with the site set-up team at the convention center.

I had just arrived at the reception after spending the day prepping the graduation space. I grabbed the few pictures above, saw how the space looked, and everything hit me all at once, and I got emotional.