Graduation weekend unpacked — Trustees and administrative members explain planning behind graduation - The Cavalier Daily - University of Virginia's Student Newspaper

The Fourth-Year Trustees and University administrative members began planning and organizing this year’s graduation weekend over a year in advance, according to Keoni Vega, Class of 2026 president and fourth-year College student. Graduation weekend includes Valedictory Exercises, the Fourth-Year Class Party Friday and the graduation ceremonies that take place Saturday and Sunday.

While the Saturday and Sunday ceremonies — such as the procession down the Lawn and departmental graduations — are organized by the University and individual schools, Friday’s Valedictory Exercises are run entirely by the Trustees. These events include the presentation of class awards, the class gift and a keynote address from the Valediction speaker for this year — former University President Jim Ryan.

“There’s a bajillion moving pieces that go into [planning Valedictory Exercises], and it takes well over a year for this weekend,” Vega said.

The Trustees are a Special Status Organization entrusted by the University to plan events and provide services for the fourth-year class. Vega explained the scope of the Trustees’ responsibility, including organizing traditional and ad-hoc events and communicating with the class.

“A lot of programming for the class is up to us — big traditions and fun things,” Vega said. “Like making sure our class Instagram is populated, we have a whole bunch of merch drops, and making sure we’re communicating [through] big emails and newsletters.”

This year, Valedictory Exercises will be held Friday at 3 p.m. at John Paul Jones Arena. As the official kickoff to graduation weekend, the ceremony will be open to all students and their families without ticketing restrictions.

The Trustees announced Ryan as their Valedictory Exercises speaker April 1, posting a video to the Class of 2026 Instagram page in which fourth-year students were asked who they wanted as their graduation speaker. According to Vega, there was a consensus among the Trustees to invite Ryan, whose selection was rooted in his deep connection with the graduating class.

“Once President Ryan resigned, it became very clear that that was not only the person who should speak, but the person that our classmates were going to want to hear from," Vega said. “We were getting emails and DMs saying, ‘Is this at all possible that he could be our speaker?’ And it is our choice, and we knew we wanted him.”

Unlike Contracted Independent Organizations, which are approved and funded through Student Council, SSOs are groups that operate on behalf of the University. Vega described SSOs as groups that carry out functions a typical school would normally handle without operating under a fixed set of instructions from University administration.

“We don’t have any specific instructions saying, ‘this month you do this, and this month you do that,’ we have full flexibility and autonomy from the University,” Vega said.

Each year, class awards are given out at Valedictory Exercises to members of the graduating class. This year, the Trustees solicited recipients of three class awards — the Orange and Blue Award, the Cultural Fluency Award and the Community Service Award — all of which are presented at Valedictory Exercises. Though the Cultural Fluency and Community Service awards are given annually, each year the class gets to choose one award category themselves.

This year, the Class of 2026 chose the Orange and Blue Award, an award that is given out to a student that exemplifies the University and its values. The Trustees graduation committee — the group of students tasked with planning the valediction ceremonies and related events — aims to finalize the concept for the third award by the end of January, after which a call for nominations is sent out to the graduating class in February.

Nominations for the awards are solicited from the graduating class, and winners are selected by volunteer committees within the Trustees. Along with these, graduating fourth-years are also eligible to receive recognition from outside organizations not affiliated with the Trustees, including the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award and honors presented by secret societies.

The Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award recognizes two graduating fourth-year students and one faculty member each year and is announced and conferred during Valedictory Exercises. According to Vega, the ceremony also includes recognition from secret society groups, though the nature and composition of those awards varies.

Behind the process of planning Valedictory Exercises is a University advising structure that supports the Trustees without directing them. There are two advisors dedicated to advising both the Trustees and the Class Councils — Mary Elizabeth Luzar and Julia Gould. Luzar is specifically dedicated to assisting the Trustees, and guides the work of the Trustees with the underlying principle of student-self governance.

These advisors intervene when an idea suggested by the Trustees poses a safety concern or other obstacle that could prevent the idea from coming to fruition. Once ideas are proposed, the advisors share knowledge and experience from previous events or other trustee groups to help the current Trustees.

Also featured during Valedictory Exercises is the presentation of the class gift — a giving campaign organized throughout the year by the Trustees in partnership with the University’s NextGen fundraising team. The class gift campaign allows graduating students to donate back to specific on-Grounds organizations, CIOs or causes that were meaningful to them during their time at the University. Annie Zhao, Class of 2026 vice president and fourth-year College student, co-founded CavsCARE — a student-run CPR certification organization — and directed her class gift donation back toward it.

“[Co-founding CavsCARE] meant a lot to me because that made a huge impact in my time at U.Va.,” Zhao said. “Obviously, I donated back to the organization that I helped build, so that the next years after that, the organization can be bigger and better.”

After Valedictory Exercises conclude Friday afternoon, the Trustees host the class party — a celebration Friday evening open to graduates and their families that has historically been held at Alumni Hall. This year, however, the Trustees will host the party in the Virginia Guesthouse, due to Alumni Hall being under construction.

“It’s going to be a new venue for all of us, and we’ve been doing a lot of collaboration, partnership and communication with the staff at the Virginia Guesthouse,” Zhao said. “I think it’s going to be an amazing event.”

The event runs from 8-11 p.m. Friday and will include live music, food, a photo booth and class merchandise.

While the Trustees handle Friday’s programming, the Saturday and Sunday Final Exercises ceremonies are the responsibility of the University’s Office of Major Events. Cecil Banks, executive director for major events and external relations at the University, described in a written statement to The Cavalier Daily the scope of the weekend’s University-organized components.

Final Exercises, held on Saturday and Sunday, is the University’s traditional commencement ceremony. Banks described the event as centered on a procession of graduates down the Lawn. Graduates and their families will hear remarks from University President Scott Beardsley, Board of Visitors Rector Carlos Brown, keynote speakers — including Kenyon Bonner, vice president and chief student affairs officer, Saturday and Assoc. Commerce Prof. Sherri Moore Sunday — and Thomas Hall, chair of the Alumni Association Board of Managers. Following Final Exercises, schools and departments host individual graduation ceremonies across Grounds.

According to Banks, coordinating the University-organized portion of Finals Weekend is a 12-month-long process that draws on contributors from across Grounds.

“My team and I coordinate and plan for Finals Weekend throughout the year,” Banks said. “I also lead a University-wide working group of over 100 faculty, staff and contractors, and we meet throughout the year to plan all details for graduation.”

The University also coordinates with 150 to 200 faculty to serve as marshals to facilitate the procession down the Lawn. In addition, more than 200 student, alumni and staff volunteers assist at information and ticket booths and collect balloons for donation to U.Va. Health Children’s Hospital.

“Finals Weekend is no small feat,” Banks said. “I’m grateful for the nearly 1,000 people that come together to make sure the weekend is special and runs smoothly for our graduates and their families.”

This year’s Finals Weekend also marks a notable shift in how certain identity-based ceremonies are organized. The University’s March 31 civil rights compliance report to the Department of Justice stated that the Division of Student Affairs no longer organizes or hosts the Donning of the Kente Ceremony, the Lavender Ceremony or the Multicultural Recognition Ceremony — all identity-based graduation ceremonies historically held in connection with Final Exercises.

In the place of the identity-based graduation ceremonies, the U.Va. Alumni Association will host four graduation receptions during Finals Weekend at Newcomb Hall — the Multicultural Graduate Reception, the Kente Graduate Reception, the International Graduate Reception and the Lavender Graduate Reception. According to the University’s Final Exercises schedule, each event will include remarks from student and alumni leaders.

Graduation weekend unpacked — Trustees and administrative members explain planning behind graduation

The Trustees are tasked with planning Valedictory Exercises, which includes selecting keynote speakers and soliciting recipients for class awards

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