We ordered the cookies from the Price Chopper at the corner of Sante Fe and Mur-len. This worked out really well as it is very close to the College Church. When people didn’t show up to help deliver, Chris and I were able to load her van, deliver the cookies quickly and come back for a second load. We did over order though. Our reception was fairly short and I would suggest you find out how long the reception will be before you order. We ordered 270 dz. cookies and had approximately 63 dz. left over. We ordered the large round trays that came w/9 dz. cookies per tray. We also ordered the peanut butter cookies on separate trays (2 total). I think the separate trays of peanut butter cookies worked out well. We also ordered more chocolate chip and chocolate, chocolate chip than the other varieties. This also seemed to go over well. The bakery and store managers were very helpful and gave us a 10% discount on our order. You need to ask for the discount.

We made a simple punch of 1 gal. punch to 2 lt. ginger ale. We had too much punch as well. We started with 72 gal. punch and 77 2 lt. bottles of ginger ale. (5 of the ginger ale were used to make ice rings.) We had 33 gal. punch and 32 2 lt. ginger ale left over. The punch we purchased at Sam’s Club along with the paper goods. MPE does NOT have a membership so unless someone in your group has a membership this option will not be open to you. We ordered the ginger ale at Walmart, and we did have to pre-order it. However, it only took a couple of days to come in and then they want you to come and get it. (I mean, they really want you to come and get it!!) We received the best price for the ginger ale at Walmart so it was worth the hassle.

Finally, we picked up white napkins and clear 9 oz cups at Sam’s Club. We purchased 1800 Vanity Fair napkins and 1800 cups. We had 900 napkins left and 300 cups.

It helps if you know ahead of time where you are going to store everything but the cookies as you won’t want to leave it till the last minute to pick these things up. Also, try to have assistance from people who have vans, trucks or at least SUVs. As I stated before, the bulk of the work is done the day before and the day of graduation. Our leftovers were donated to Freedom Fire Urban Ministry, though you may decide to simply return the unopened items, except for the cookies. We didn’t have any nuts or candy as we were told they make a mess. Good luck with your graduation adventure!

1- Here are the supplies we ordered that worked

out very well:

The specs for the diploma are:

Navy morocco cover

6 X 8 white moiré inside with 4 grey ribbons

Acetate envelope

With silver stamping “Class of 2010” on the front.

$ 8.62

Gary Waldrup

Herff Jones Representative

P.O. Box 6094

Leawood, KS 66206

(913) 952-5132

Paper: Kinko’s

Color: Glacier Mist

Vellum

2-Our team had 4 families this year. We would

recommend 5 families for the future. The levels

of responsibilities need to be determined ahead

of time at the first meeting because a great deal

of work can fall on a few people.

Here’s what we recommend:

1 family= receive all e-mails from graduates with

their full name, school name, quote, etc.

1 family= orders the paper & the diploma covers

(pick-ups both sets as well)

1 family= copy and pastes all the info into the

diploma template. (very time consuming)

2 families=oversee the proofing of the diplomas at

the last scheduled meeting before graduation
& oversee the parents signing the diplomas at the

dress-rehearsal. *bring 3 nice ink felt pens for parents

to use to sign.

*Now, there will need to be at least 5 people on deck

to handle the diploma signing because then, the diplomas

all need to be placed in the diploma covers that evening

since the diplomas stay at the church. **Then, the diplomas

need to be placed in ABC order & divided in 2 sets since

graduates are seated on both sides of the stage.

*Ensure that your team communicates with the organizers

to request that the signing & proofing can be accomplished

at both events. Also, request that reminder e-mails are sent out.

Lastly, request table and chairs for these 2 activities.

From there, the Cacy’s took care of ensuring that the diplomas

were ready that evening as well as having volunteers set to hand them

to the parents on both sides of the stage before they walked up on

the stage.

Overall, it was a great experience being part of this team!

Two parents and one student worked on the committee. The team leader acted as communicator with the gown company and received emails from the graduates with their measurements. The other parent sent reminder e-mails to the ceremony leaders for group distribution, contacted graduates by phone, and assisted with the distribution.

Herff Jones, Inc. (800-553-3737 MPE account number:15001559000) provided premiere navy caps and gowns and silver tassels (the MPE designated colors). The cost of each set was $23.75. Herff Jones mailed a packet to the 2009 coordinators who sent it to the MPE office. Additionally the 2010 team leader ordered a packet. Graduates were instructed to e-mail their measurements to the team leader. Those that did not e-mail their measurements had the opportunity to be measured at the Jan. planning meeting. Three students had to be contacted by phone to get their measurements. One student never submitted measurements (but emailed the week before the ceremony wanting a set). The order was sent Feb. 16 and received Mar. 5. Sets were distributed to the graduates at the Mar. 29 planning meeting. The student team member delivered the one set that was not pick up at the meeting. Herff Jones sent two extra gowns. One student’s measurements were incorrectly recorded and exchanged the one she received for one of the two extra gowns. The remaining extra gown was returned to the company for a refund.

It would be better for the students to be measured at the planning meetings because it was a hassle receiving sporadic email in various measurement formats and transferring them to hat sizes etc. Getting the two extra gowns was an unexpected blessing.

Thank You again! Please call Mandy, (913) 406-0911, with any questions!

The Photography Committee was responsible for lining up a photographer to take cap and gown pictures as well as a group photo and pictures of each graduate receiving his/her diploma. We did this all the night of graduation. The photographers came early to set up all their equipment to be ready for individual pictures from 2:30-4 pm. The group picture started around 4:15 and took about 45 minutes to complete. An additional photo was taken of the graduates tossing their caps into the air. 2 cameras were used during the ceremony, one each side of the stage to take the pictures of the graduates, entering from opposite sides, receiving their diplomas. Quick pictures were also taken as the graduates exited the stage. Due to time constraints, graduates were not able to stop and pose for that.

The photographers did not charge a fee for the service. To make it equitable for them, all graduates were asked to have their portraits done. We used an alphabetical system and just assigned them a time. For example, last names A-C 2:30, D-F 2:45, etc. This did not really work out like we planned. Instead they had the graduates sign up and wait until they were called. This ran us a little behind.

The photographers used were Josh & Mandy Hutchison of BluJade photography. Their phone number is 913.406.0911; their email is blujadephotography@hotmail.com. They are located in Gardner, KS.

Other photographers who were considered for the job but not contacted due to the Hutchison’s being available and having done it previously, were Creative Life Studios in Shawnee
http://creativelifestudios.com/ 913.448.1316

Additional Photography Notes:
It would be good to communicate to the photographer exactly what you would like pictures of and any time restraints you might be under. The 2010 photographers were hardworking, organized, and respectful of our time limits. They made photos available on a website for ordering from a Canadian lab at reasonable prices.

This is actual time at ceremony.

It wasn’t clear that we were responsible for running the refreshment room. I was okay with this, but simply wasn’t expecting to have this duty. The refreshments were dropped off and we were given minimal instruction. I would want next year’s volunteers to get clear instruction on the expectations. We mixed the punch, set out the cookies, filled ice water pitchers, cleaned up and dealt with the leftover ingredients. Perhaps the refreshment team could have helped with some of this. We put a punch bowl and cookies on each table, so there were six possibilities for people to go to…instead forcing two lines only as they moved down the tables. One thing that makes the refreshment room a problem is people get their cookies and punch, and then they stay in that room! They need to move to the room with the round tables or back into the display room…not sure what you could do to improve that though.

It was similar with the decoration clean up. They helped set up, but not with any cleanup. We were told to take everything down, fill boxes with anything salvageable and deliver it to the MPE Office. Stack all tables and vacuum the entire area.

Perhaps there needs to be at least one, maybe two junior parents assigned to the committees early on, so they could very specifically handle these issues. The junior parents and students could know they are going to run the show, and be responsible for clean up, while the senior families would provide the punch and goodies…order them, deliver them…and then be free to enjoy the evening. As it was, we all were kind of scrambling to figure things out, instead of there being someone already in place with a plan. I guess that was my job, but again I just didn’t understand that it was. Also with decorations: have a junior family or two assigned to monitor the clean up and be responsible to take the decorations back to MPE. I think this needs to be true for programs as well. We totally forgot about the programs, and never went back to the main entrance. I’m sure there were some programs left there…we were so busy with the clean up of the other areas, and then of packing all the decorations into our two vehicles, that we had no idea we were supposed to do anything about them. It needs to be spelled out that maybe a month or at least a couple of weeks before the ceremony the coordinators need to be assigning Jr. parents to those committees, with the specific intent of them knowing they will be in charge on that night. They might need to come to rehearsal, just so they can get their bearings and know where stuff will be. It may be also, that this was exacerbated by the fact that there were SO many people there! When I was looking at the full auditorium, I was thinking, “oh my goodness…the refreshment room is going to be a mad house!”
Again, we are totally fine and happy that we could help out with this great event. I acknowledge that we too could have misunderstood some of the instructions. I hope that these comments will be of help to those doing this job in the future.

One other thing: cleaning the auditorium took a lot longer than we thought. The facilities manager told Tim he wanted them to vacuum each row (not the aisles)…not just the spot vacuuming. They didn’t finish that until 10 min. before 9pm! I mean, he was there so they kind of had to do it the way he said!

As a final note, I kind of wish we had been able to meet most if not all of our volunteers before Friday night. I don’t know if we could have gotten people to just come for 20 min. to rehearsal, but it would have been helpful to recognize faces, have them with name tags already when the came on Friday night…that’s just in hindsight…something I wish I had thought of.

Most of the report is found on the various posts and comments in this website. To aid in communication, we set up the website. We found it very helpful and it minimized our need for meetings and excessive emails.
We managed the website and email communication, in order to stay abreast of all the details involved with graduation. There was quite a bit of activity and communication in the beginning with getting people signed up to volunteer. Then, it slowed down considerably. We delegated all details for each team and supported all of their decisions. This minimized our job. We didn’t really oversee anything. Also, we made it clear that if we didn’t have enough volunteers for various tasks we would do without. We didn’t want anyone to be burdened. I’m not sure we succeeded with that goal, but we did our best.

We made several new teams this year to separate tasks. The A/V Team is still labor intensive. It could be 3 Teams: Slideshow creators, Blessing recorders, Ceremony recorders (hiring a videographer, reproducing the DVDs and distributing to all grads) Otherwise, I think it all went well. Check the individual reports on Team pages.

Here is our task list:
We managed the website and updated it regularly.
1. Established time and place for the ceremony (and rehearsal, which is the evening before) and reserve it…used the same one as previous years (College Church at MNU)
2. Recruit a Treasurer and transfer MPE Graduation Account (info with MPE Office)
3. Gather graduates with ads in MPE Newsletter and asking Jr. Coordinator for those that volunteered. Get them to sign up (first come, first choice) to teams that have openings.
4. We had a Summer Picnic (only because we had a volunteer to plan it), Sept., Jan., and March meeting. One volunteer found and scheduled a place for the end of these months and we announced those to the graduates ASAP
5. All communication was email, meetings or website
6. Give the MPE secretary the list of family names to check for eligibility. If you have families not eligible for graduation, they may appeal the MPE Board
7. Communicate clearly and often with graduates and parents reminding them of deadlines.
8. At first meeting, get volunteers to lead each team…this is mostly a job of communicating with the Graduation Coordinators and ensuring the task of the team is completed.
9. Get suggestions and vote on motto, verse, quote
10. Schedule a group of parents to listen to possible Senior Addresses before January meeting. Announce to Graduates that they must sign up and come early to give a sample of their speech (2-5 min.)
11. Determine order of ceremony
12. Remind parents about announcements, senior pictures, etc.
13. Ask MPE Office to include a request for junior coordinator to recruit and oversee volunteers at graduation. Meet with them to go over duties outlined on website
14. Announce graduation in the March edition of the MPE newsletter. In April/May newsletter, print invitation and list of graduates

After graduation
1. Request reports from teams and volunteers. They submitted on website and summarized any suggested changes and what worked well.
2. Write up coordinator summary for website (this is it!)
3. Contact church to see if anything was left, expenses were paid, cleaning was done, etc. Take lost and found to MPE office. Jr. Coordinators handled this
4. Communicate that all receipts need to be handed in by the deadline set
5. Make sure video DVD and picture information is available to all graduates. This was handled by the appropriate team.