No tickets, so the seat goes to whoever is early

At most universities the guest list is decided weeks ahead by a ticket allocation. At the Johnson campus of Vermont State University there are no tickets at all. Seating under the tent is first come, first served, and the whole family can come.

That puts the planning effort somewhere else: on getting there in time. Last round the gates opened at two in the afternoon for a four o’clock ceremony, and Vermont State asked guests to arrive before half past three. Graduates line up an hour before the start in the SHAPE Gymnasium, in cap and gown, without bags, since there is nowhere to store personal items. A family staying 40 minutes away in Stowe needs to leave in the early afternoon to be sure of seats together.

The ceremony itself is short by commencement standards, usually an hour to an hour and a half, depending on how many graduates walk. December graduates are invited to walk in the May ceremony too.

Johnson’s slot in a four-campus weekend

Vermont State University runs one commencement weekend for all its campuses, and its academic calendar has fixed the Saturday and Sunday (shown in the table above). Each campus then has its own ceremony on its own grounds.

Last round the order was Castleton on the Saturday morning, Randolph and Williston on the Saturday afternoon, Lyndon on the Sunday morning, and Johnson last, at four on the Sunday afternoon. Vermont State has not yet said whether Johnson keeps that slot. If it does, the useful nights to book are the Saturday, so the family is near Johnson on the morning of the ceremony, and the Sunday, so nobody faces a long drive straight after the reception.

Under the tent, or in the theatre

The ceremony is held outdoors under a tent on the Johnson campus. Vermont State itself notes that some guests find the tent too cold and others too hot, and it plans for both. Chairs are removed under the tent to make room for wheelchairs, and the ceremony is broadcast live in Dibden Theater, an indoor, climate-controlled space with easy access to restrooms, for any guest who finds the tent too cold, too hot or too crowded. For relatives who cannot travel, the ceremony is also streamed online.

Two rules are worth passing on before the day. Alcohol is not allowed at commencement, and pets should stay at home; only service animals are admitted.

Beds in the next valley

The village of Johnson has no large hotel, and HotelGuides finds nothing within five miles of the campus. Vermont State’s own advice is to make hotel reservations for out-of-town guests as soon as possible, and its list of suggestions shows how far families travel:

• About 12 minutes: Hyde Park, where the Governor’s House heads Vermont State’s list.
• About 20 minutes: Jeffersonville and the resorts around Smugglers’ Notch, also on the list.
• Half an hour to three quarters of an hour: Stowe, where the Trapp Family Lodge (96 rooms) is on Vermont State’s list, and HotelGuides adds Topnotch (68 rooms) and the Stowe Motel (60 rooms) on Mountain Road.
• Further: the chain hotels at the Interstate 89 exit in Waterbury, nearly 50 minutes away, and Burlington, over an hour, where the airport is.

Vermont State’s list also names smaller places such as log-cabin lodgings and a motor inn, and it points families to the Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce for more. None of the properties we checked publishes a special graduation-weekend rule, such as a two-night minimum. Our grade of the pressure rests on that thin supply near the campus and on Vermont State’s own advice, not on a count of free rooms, which we have not taken.

On the day: gates, parking and the shuttle

Parking is on campus, and it is one thing families do not need to worry about here. Vermont State says there is enough for all visitors because most underclassmen have left by commencement, and it asks families to carpool where they can. Enter from College Road and follow the Public Safety officers, who direct guests to the open lots. Accessible parking and seating are provided, a shuttle runs for anyone who cannot walk long distances, and last round there was a free coffee bar for guests through the afternoon.

Vermont State also holds an Honors Convocation in the Dibden Center for the Arts, recognising more than two hundred students, and families are invited. Its date will be on the Johnson commencement page with the rest of the coming schedule.