Gearing up for graduation

Seniors at the University of Oklahoma were preparing for graduation with the help of a university held event from Monday through Wednesday in a local campus building.

Seniors that were anticipating graduating in December received help from Graduation Gear-Up, a university held function created to offer a convenient way to get all the items and information a graduation candidate would need. The event was held in Beaird Lounge, found on the second floor in the Oklahoma Memorial Union. The event was on Oct. 6-8 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day.

Graduating among thousands of people may intimidate future graduates when preparing for graduation, but this event is designed to give one-on-one attention to those who needed it. Many students found it helpful, such as Murat Turkbey, a petroleum and mechanical engineering senior. According to Turkbey, Graduation Gear-Up has helped him with any information he did not know beforehand.

“Students here are getting personalized attention and that helps them when they are getting prepared for graduation,” Turkbey said. “A lot of people are nervous about graduation, but this helps ease that.”

The event was meant to make the transition from a student to a graduate as seamless as possible. Graduation Gear-Up had booths with information about convocation, graduation ceremonies and preparation for after college. Along with this, there were booths from OU clubs and organizations ranging from OU Alumni, OU Honors College, Women’s Outreach Center and many more.

“The students are very thankful for this event,” said Caitlin Steves, student worker at the graduation office. “The process is very convenient, it just makes sense.”

Not only did it provide helpful information, but graduation candidates were also able to purchase their cap and gown, announcements, class rings and a Sooner Yearbook. If seniors wanted to take pictures in their cap and gown for the yearbook, or for personal reasons, they had that option provided by Norman Party Pics, a local photography business.

“The entire objective for Graduation Gear-Up is to make it as convenient as possible for everyone,” Steves said. “It is putting everything a senior needs to know all together in one place.”

This was not the only chance to attend the event; Graduation Gear-Up is also held in the spring semester, for those planning on graduating in May. It is held every fall and spring semester on the Norman campus and each spring semester on the OUHSC and Tulsa campuses.