Commencement Ceremony Information

OTC holds one commencement each year in May to recognize the graduates from that academic year. All those who graduated the prior summer and fall, or students who will graduate in the current spring or summer, are invited to participate. Attending the ceremony is not required in order to graduate. Students do not need to RSVP in order to attend the commencement ceremony.

Caps and gowns (regalia) may be picked up at Grad Prep, a special event for OTC grads, or at the OTC Bookstore on the Springfield campus starting in April. Regalia is free for graduates and does not need to be preordered! If you attend another OTC location, check with a Student Services representative or your College Navigator to place an order for your cap and gown. Those items will be shipped to your OTC location for you to pick up. To view specially designated accessories, please see Approved Regalia Accessories. For additional regalia questions, please reach out to wattsm@otc.edu.

If you want more information about the correct way to care for and wear your commencement regalia, watch the commencement regalia video. Don’t wait until the day of commencement to get your cap and gown ready! For OTC Commencement, your tassel goes on the right and you will move it to the left at the end of the commencement ceremony.

Commencement is a formal event, and professionalism and decorum are paramount. Historically, decorating caps violated the decorum of the event.

While decorating graduation caps at OTC is not prohibited, grads who arrive at the ceremony with any of the following will have their cap replaced, or will be prohibited from attending:

• Inappropriate or obscene creations
• Anything hanging from the sides
• Anything that is not flat on the surface, 3-D designs are prohibited
• Anything that uses lighting
• Anything that would obstruct the view of those around you

Yes, graduation announcements and other gifts are available for purchase at the OTC Bookstore on the Springfield campus and online.

Great Southern Bank Arena (formerly JQH Arena) is located on the Missouri State University campus at 685 S. John Q. Hammons Parkway in Springfield, Missouri.

Grads and guests may park for free in MSU Parking Lot #25 or Bear Park North.

Yes. There will be two photo opportunities.

1. Once grads arrive at the event, each has the option to take a professional, posed photo with a backdrop, if they choose. (Arrive as close to 3:30 p.m. as possible. These photos will end promptly at 4:30 p.m.)
2. All grads will have a professional photo taken when they receive their diploma during the ceremony.

All grads will have the option to purchase these photos if they choose. Grads should continue to check their OTC email in the weeks following the commencement ceremony for ordering information.

There is no limit to the number of guests each grad can invite to the commencement ceremony. Tickets and RSVPs are not required to enter the commencement ceremony as a guest, and grads do not need to reserve seats for guests.

The 2024 OTC Commencement Ceremony on May 16 begins at 5 p.m. Graduates need to report to Hammons Student Center (directly west of Great Southern Bank Arena) beginning at 3:30 p.m., while guests will go directly to Great Southern Bank Arena (formerly JQH Arena) to be seated.

Grads who want to take an optional, professional photo (available for purchase later) should arrive as close to 3:30 p.m. as possible. Photos will end promptly at 4:30 p.m.

Once grads enter Hammons Student Center, they check in at the name card tables, where they receive cards that indicate their name and degree or certificate program(s). OTC staff from the Registrar’s Office, Disability Support Services, the OTC Bookstore and others will be available to assist grads. When announced, graduates proceed to the Hammons Student Center main court, where they will line up for the processional. All graduates should have arrived and joined the processional line by 4:30 p.m. Once the ceremony begins, graduates are not permitted to enter late.

Note: Please be sure to use the restroom before lining up for the processional. Once you leave Hammons Student Center, restrooms are not readily available.

Grads should dress up but dress comfortably. Commencement is a formal event. Grads should avoid t-shirts or jeans, and pick shoes they can wear and walk in for an extended period of time.

Graduates should not bring purses, backpacks, umbrellas, balloons, flowers, outside food and drinks, or weapons. These items should be left at home or secured in a vehicle. Security procedures at Great Southern Bank Arena require all graduates to undergo a security check and be scanned by a metal detector at the student entrance (west doors of Hammons Student Center). Graduates should only carry their name cards into the ceremony. Cell phones are permitted but must be kept hidden and on silent mode.

Grads who anticipate needing accommodations to participate should contact Disability Support Services at disabilityservices@otc.edu or 417-447-8189. All guests will be provided accommodations at Great Southern Bank Arena (formerly JQH Arena) by the event staff.

Visit the Disability Support Services website for information on accommodations available at commencement.

Grads enter the commencement ceremony in two lines and are escorted to the right and left sides of the commencement floor. If you want to sit next to someone, they should be in front or behind you in line. Please keep in mind that due to the number of chairs in each row, the person in front of or behind you may not sit next to you.

A commencement program will be on each graduate’s seat when they enter the commencement ceremony. To ensure your name is printed in the program, apply for graduation by April 1. It’s easy to apply online in myOTC by clicking the Graduation button. You can also download the Printable Application for Graduation, scan it or take a picture of it with your phone, and email it to registrar@otc.edu, or drop off the form at the Student Services office at any OTC location.

When grads get their name card at check-in in Hammons Student Center, do not write on it. Any hand-written notes will not be read at the commencement ceremony. Instead, when you hand your card to the reader to be read aloud at the ceremony, notify the reader at that time of the correct pronunciation.

Grads will be led out of the ceremony after the stage guests and faculty. Grads should remain in their seats until the appropriate time to exit. At that time, they will be led out of the ramp on the northeast side of Great Southern Bank Arena (formerly JQH Arena). Grads are encouraged to visit with guests ahead of time about a meetup plan after the ceremony ends.

All certificates and degrees earned will be listed in the commencement program, but only the highest degree earned will be read from the name card at the commencement ceremony. If a grad completes more than one program within a degree type, all programs will be read.

Diplomas will be sent to the address on file at OTC 4-6 weeks after a student graduates. Grads can update their addresses by going to the My Contact Information page in myOTC. Address changes must be received by the last day of classes for the term a student is graduating.

All grads attending the OTC Commencement Ceremony will have their eligibility for scholastic honors for the commencement book and name card determined based on their current OTC cumulative GPA at the time those documents are printed. Since spring semester grades are not yet available, they cannot be included in that calculation. Scholastic honors are re-calculated once grades for the spring semester are finalized, which may add or remove a student from the list of scholastic honors after the commencement ceremony. The final determination regarding eligibility for scholastic honors is made at the time the degree or certificate is conferred, and any scholastic honors earned will be listed on those documents. For more information, please see the Graduation FAQ and Scholastic Honors.