Commencement: Now You See It…
Now you don’t
05.24.2012 By John O’Rourke. Video edited by Phil Zekos
Watch the setup, celebration, and breakdown of the 2012 Boston University Commencement. Time-lapse footage, provided by IS&T Technical Operations, was recorded in the Nickerson Field press box, one frame per minute, over the course of 10 days. Photo by Melody Komyerov
First, the numbers: 25,000 guests attended 200 events, where they drank 10,000 gallons of coffee, punch, and bottled water and 5,900 gallons of other refreshments. There were 33,495 finger sandwiches (if stacked end-to-end, they’d have reached 8,373 feet into the sky and been 46 times higher than Warren Towers), 11,500 French pastries (with 4,593,000 calories), and 25,000 cookies.
It took 6,000 feet of duct tape, 40,000 chairs, and more than 40 gallons of red paint (to paint signs, staging, and of course, the BU name on the wall of Nickerson Field) to help celebrate the 6,735 students who graduated this week.
“Every office is involved in Commencement,” says Michael Ciarlante (COM’79), director of Events & Conferences, who has planned 33 Commencements. More than 500 University staff members volunteered their time.
Ciarlante’s reply when asked if there was anything out of the ordinary about this year’s Commencement? “The weather. It couldn’t have cooperated more.”
This article originally appeared in BU Today on May 24, 2012.