Inside Baseball on Baccalaureate

As our P’22s get ready for Commencement weekend, I wanted to give you a little bit of Inside Baseball on Baccalaureate, which takes place on Sunday, May 15th at 9 am in Wait Chapel. Here goes:

General info:

• Graduates could register for a maximum of 2 guest tickets. Note that graduates in cap and gown do not need a ticket.
• Entry into Wait Chapel is restricted to processing graduates, faculty, and ticket holders. 
• Students in cap and gown process in as a group and are seated together; they do not sit with their family.
• Baccalaureate does not recognize individual graduates by name. The format is similar to a worship service and is typically broadly ecumenical.
• Having a ticket does not guarantee entry into the Chapel. Entry is on a first-come, first-served basis.  

First wave of seating:

• The doors to Wait Chapel stay closed until 8:00 a.m. Families can begin forming a line starting at 7 am (look for the sign on the Quad).
• At 8 am, they will open the doors to the Chapel and we will begin admitting ticketholders starting at the front of the line. If you would like to be seated together, you must enter the Chapel with your entire party and each guest must have a ticket. Saved seats are not permitted. 
• Once you have entered the Chapel, ushers will direct you to a row. You will be asked to fill in every seat, leaving no empty seats.
• Once we fill all seats in the Chapel that are not reserved for the graduates and faculty, the Chapel doors are closed and the line stops for a time.

Second wave of seating:

• The doors to the Chapel will remain closed until students and faculty have processed in and are in place. Once the processional group is seated, we will reopen the Chapel doors for the next ticket holders in line. 
• Guests will be directed to available seating until all remaining seats are full. 
• There can be quite a few seats that open up through this second seating process, so do not panic if you are in line for the second wave of seating.

Overflow seating

• Weather permitting, we will provide a live video feed onto the Quad (Hearn Plaza) for overflow seating once the Chapel is filled. Guests may sit in the chairs provided on the Quad; for security purposes, no one may enter the roped off area around the stage.

Important notes

• If you or someone in your party needs special seating (for wheelchairs, etc.), please alert an usher. Look for staff with gold nametags.
• If you exit the Chapel after being seated, you will not be allowed back into your seat. The seat will be filled with the next guests in line.

We hope this is helpful information to families hoping to attend Baccalaureate!

We also have one news item to share: following Commencement, construction will begin on two major campus improvement projects: a centralized shuttle stop replacing Lot N and the extension of Wake Forest Road from the Reynolda Road entrance through Davis Field. Read more.

– by Betsy Chapman, Ph.D. (‘92, MA ‘94)