The Herd, Bison Students and Players Gear Up for Busy Friday

A fun filled Friday is coming up for NDSU students.

It’s winter graduation and also FCS playoff game day for the football team.

Administration says that parking lots will be filled, the stadium will be packed and the key strategy is getting here early.

If you didn’t think graduation day could get any more exciting…add in your school’s biggest game of the year all within hours of each other and you’ve got one jam-packed day.

“There will be a lot going on, on campus, so those who want to watch friends or who are participating in the ceremony can certainly do that but then they can also enjoy the game after,” said NDSU Associate Registrar, Jackie Schluchter.

NDSU’s commencement ceremony will be held at 2:00pm in the Sanford Health Athletic Complex and kickoff for the Bison game will be at 6:00pm in the Fargodome.

And if you want to get to either event, administration says you’ve got to have strategy to your game plan when it comes to parking.

“All of our parking lots kind of easily transition into commencement parking lots and then we’ll be done and then that transitions into athletic parking lots,” said Jackie.

This isn’t the first time NDSU has pulled off two major events back to back.

“We used to have our commencement in the Fargodome but when our football team found their success and started winning championships, these events started happening at the same time,” said Jackie.

But with two major events, the pressure also lands on the students…some, who have to make a choice.

One student even says that no matter how much Bison pride she has, she thinks she might skip out on the game.

“The idea is to make it to both, but in the end I know I will probably spend time with friends that are moving on versus going to the game,” said NDSU Student, Randi Haarsager-Neary.

A special day for the Herd you could say is twice…as nice.

Parking for graduation will be open at noon on Friday and parking for the Bison game will be open at one.