Commencement ceremonies kick off for local universities

SOUTH BEND, Ind. --  With spring comes graduation season for South Bend’s local universities. Indiana University South Bend (IUSB) hosted its ceremony Tues. evening, setting the scene for what this busy week will look like.

“Graduations are in bloom as are flowers right… it’s graduation season and it seems like all the universities in town kind of align all at the same time, which is really exciting for us,” said Visit South Bend Mishawaka Communications Manager, Jena Stopczynski.

Along with IUSB’s graduation, Notre Dame University, Holy Cross College, and Saint Mary’s College will all be holding graduation events and celebrations throughout the weekend.

“Bear in mind that traffic might be a little thick around any college campus… get your restaurant reservations in if you’re trying to go out or just kind of avoid spots around campuses, or you know the Grape Road area might be a little busy,” said Stopczynski.

There was some congested traffic getting into IUSB’s ceremony, but Notre Dame parking attendant, Mosetta Horton, said they’ll help get people where they need to be.

“Getting around town when there’s anything at Notre Dame is going to be hard to do… we work it out so people can get where they’re going to and we hope that it’s smooth for them,” said Horton.

For many of our local universities, a large portion of students choose to stay here in town once graduating, contributing to the local economy. IUSB marketing and communications director, Jim Pinkerton, said the same is true for many of their almost 900 2025 graduates.

“Of all the graduates that are here, 65 percent of them will stay and work in this community. That’s the overall number, but in Health Sciences that numbers even greater, about 90 percent of our graduates will actually take jobs here in the community. It’s one of those things where we draw in students from this area, they get their education, and then they go back into the community to contribute to the local economy,” said Pinkerton.

Meaning the local economy gets a little boost now during graduation weekend, and that will hopefully continue as the students stay and grow in careers. However, if they do choose to move on, Stopczynski hopes they visit.

“We hope to see you out at the tailgates and at the football games, or you know at any, any event that could bring you back to town, we welcome you back with open arms anytime,” said Stopczynski