The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Expect busy roads and restaurants
By Seth Mensing
Western Colorado University will hold its 112th commencement ceremony at the Mountaineer Bowl on Saturday, May 10, at 10 a.m., when more than 400 graduates will walk across the stage to receive a diploma.
The ceremony will be streamed live in the University Center Theater and available through a link on the University’s website, allowing family and friends, as well as the broader community, to share this special day with the students.
“As athletes and artists, grocery clerks and trail crew members, these students have been an essential part of our community,” said Western’s president Brad Baca. “Commencement is a moment to honor their accomplishments and recognize the impact they’ve had both on campus and in the Valley.”
With guests visiting for the ceremony, there will be noticeably more people in the towns and on the roads during the commencement weekend. Restaurants and hotel rooms will be full, and on what might otherwise have been a quiet shoulder season weekend, the Valley will be busy again.
Most Western students will prepare to leave campus during the first week of May. The weekend’s festivities will start on Friday, May 9, with the presentation of the Alumni Awards for Excellence in the West Wing of the Leslie J. Savage Library and continue through the reception following the commencement ceremony.
This year’s keynote address will be delivered by Dan Gibbs (’02), executive director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources. “It is a great honor to come back to the school where I studied and have such great memories and long-lasting friendships and relationships,” Gibbs said. “It has had a real, positive impact on me, and I always enjoy coming back and seeing how the school has grown.”
After commencement, Western’s summer session begins, and the campus will be quieter until faculty and students return the week before classes begin on August 25.
