For the first time in four years, the Cleveland graduation ceremony will not take place at Providence Park. Instead, this year’s seniors will officially graduate in the PSU Viking Pavilion, which offers substantial cost savings for the district, according to the weekly PPS newsletter. The newsletter also claims that the new venue will be cheaper for students who have to pay to park.
Unfortunately, there is a possibility that schools with large graduating classes like Cleveland will have to split the ceremony between two rooms, the Viking Pavilion and Smith Hall, the latter of which will watch the ceremony live and meet with the graduates after the ceremony is complete.
The Viking Pavilion, which can seat around 3,400 guests at a time and has 14,000 square feet of event floor space, was upgraded to be LEED gold certified in 2018, meaning it is “adhering to prerequisites and credits that address carbon, energy, water, waste, transportation, materials, health, and indoor environmental quality.” According to its webpage, the Viking Pavilion has previously hosted formal banquets, commencement ceremonies, cultural celebrations, circuses, and even professional wrestling.
This new venue comes both at a time of generally receded COVID-19 restrictions and district-wide budget cuts, with the district having cut $30 million last year and facing a $40 million deficit this year. According to its website, the Viking Event Center charges $650 per hour, with a 10-hour minimum. Conversely, Providence charges anywhere from $7,000 to $15,000 for a three-hour field rental, according to Eventective, a site that provides information on event venues.
These arrangements will be held for the next three years, meaning that the classes of 2025, 2026, and 2027 will all graduate from the new venue. This new venue promises to usher in a new era of students, graduation, and ceremony.
https://web.archive.org/web/20240930162807/https://www.pps.net/cleveland
https://www.eventective.com/portland-or/providence-park-552533.html
