Seniors will get help this month to prepare for graduation.
Gateway to Graduation will be from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Feb. 14-15 in the campus bookstore in Tom and Brenda McDaniel University Center.
Representatives from various campus departments will be in the store to help seniors with graduation preparations including:
- Registrar officials will verify graduation applications,
- student account officials will assist with financial aid,
- career services officials will help students with post-graduation plans,
- graduate admissions officials will help students look for graduate school options, and
- Jostens representatives will have order forms for announcements and class rings.
Jostens is a memorabilia manufacturer, specializing in yearbooks and class rings for various high schools and universities.
Bookstore Manager Christina Chapman said this is the first year officials are not doing pre-orders for cap and gowns. Seniors will leave with their cap and gown when they attend.
“Students will just come in, and we will check your height and everything here, and then we’ll pull your gown and you will leave with them,” Chapman said.
Students will receive discounted prices for bookstore items during the event. Seniors who donate $18 to the alumni association for the senior gift will receive an 18 percent off coupon for merchandise in the bookstore.
The store will have 18 percent discounts on diploma frames and other alumni apparel. Jostens also will have special discounted prices for rings and announcements.
Chapman said Starsky might attend the event and give hugs for Valentine’s Day. She also said seniors who cannot attend the event can go to the store anytime to pick up their caps and gowns.
“Jostens won’t be here then, but you can look online to order any of the stuff that you want,” she said. “They have rings and announcements, all that online. If you’re not for sure what size you need in a ring, you can come by, and we do have ring sizers for them.”
Morgan Haney, music theater senior, said Gateway to Graduation will help students ensure they are prepared.
“It definitely feels like a one-stop-shop kind of thing where you can walk in and make sure you have all your boxes checked for graduation,” Haney said. “I think the event itself is very helpful to students.”
Haney said her OCU education made her feel confident for the “real” world.
“I think that OCU offers you a lot of varied opportunities to make you feel like you’re prepared,” she said. “For me, that I’m prepared as an actor, but also that I am prepared to live as a person in the real world, which is a comforting thing.”
Haney said Gateway to Graduation should be advertised more to seniors.
“I had definitely heard of it, and I knew it was happening, but I had no idea when it was or what it was. I thought it was a career fair, but then I looked it up,” she said.
More information about Gateway to Graduation can be found at okcu.edu/students/commencement/gateway-to-graduation. Students can also keep up with their graduation preparation with OCU’s graduation checklist.
Leave a Reply