​Please see below for all the information emailed out to families of Grade 12 students on June 19:

Commencement Date: Sunday, June 25, 2023

Location: Convocation Mall, SFU, Burnaby, BC

Ceremony Start Time: 11am

Ceremony Concludes at Approximately: 1:45pm

Ticket Pick-Up:

• Students must pick up their tickets at lunchtime on Wednesday, June 21, at the Riverside front entrance.
• If you require extra tickets at the last minute, please see a staff member at the Halpern Center entrance. $5/ticket cash only; exact change please.

Toonie Drop for G23 Legacy Donation:

• All Grads are reminded to please bring a loonie or toonie to Commencement. When on stage, each Grad will drop the coin into a container. All monies raised goes to Tri-Cities SHARE.

Arrival Time, Parking, and Seating:

• Proceed to the "North Parking Lot", which is on the far North West area of SFU. Parking is free in that area. If you require parking with extra accessibility, please have your graduate ask us at school where to park.
• Graduates should arrive at 10am and report to the Halpern Center entrance. Staff will assist the students to find their way into the Academic Quadrangle hallway where they will await the start of the ceremony. Parents are not permitted inside the Academic Quadrangle building.
• Parents and other guests can make their way into the seating area in Convocation Mall anytime between 9:45am and 11am. The seating is first-come, first-served. Tickets will be collected at the entrances to the seating area.
• There is designated seating for those requiring accessibility.

Ceremony:

• Our ceremony begins promptly with entrance of the Graduates at 11am.
• All graduates are required to wear the blue commencement gown, cap, and tassel. These are provided to the students on Friday, June 23 at school. If any unforeseen issue happens to the gown, please notify Admin as soon as possible using email: riverside@sd43.bc.ca
• The ceremony contains a few speeches from invited guests, presentation of the grads, and a concluding speech from this year's Valedictorian.
• Typically, the entire ceremony lasts about 2 1/2 hours.
• Let's all show great respect for the Graduates and their families. We greatly appreciate it you would refrain from going on the balconies; interfering with the official photographer on the balcony; talking during the presentation of the grads.
• Although the venue is covered, it is open air and we encourage everyone to dress appropriately and consider wearing layers. Thank you.

Group Photo:

• Once the Graduates exit the seating area, they will congregate on the Grand Staircase for a very large group photo. The plaza area where this occurs is a good place for family photos and selfies following the ceremony.
• Please do not impede the view of the official photographer of this group photo.
• Students are free to leave following the group photo.

Gown Return:

• Graduates are expected to return their gown and stole (v-shaped white and green sash). The return dates are Monday and Tuesday, June 26 and 27th - at the main office of Riverside.

Diploma Certificates:

• Every Graduate is going to receive a folder with a personal grad photo "diploma certificate", and a composite photo with all the grads. The official BC Dogwood diploma or BC Evergreen certificate will arrive by mail directly to the school in mid-August. We will let the community know once these have arrived for grads to pick the diplomas up at Riverside late in the summer.

See you at SFU on Sunday!