Just ask yourself: If it takes a village to raise a child, doesn't it take the whole campus to graduate a senior--or doctoral student, for that matter? Given the number of donated bobby pins and confiscated blow-up dolls, as well as last-minute scrambles to replace canceled speakers, hundreds of staff members can testify that this is certainly true. They are the ones who work behind the scenes so that students march--in the right direction--down the aisle to shake hands with the dean and the chancellor or provost and to switch their tassel. Commencement coordinators, parking attendants, police officers, the Recreation Hall staff and hundreds of other staff volunteers help create the successful ceremonies for UC Davis' seven schools and colleges. Many staff members say helping with graduation is one of the more meaningful tasks they perform. "As an adviser, I watch the students grow mentally and physically. This is what makes the ceremony so special and exciting to me," says Deborah Hawke, a staff volunteer from the Section of Neurology, Physiology and Behavior. Despite times when temperatures soared to 110 degrees, Hawke has attended every commencement but one since 1984. Nicole Waterman, registrar at the School of Law, says she enjoys graduation because she knows many of the graduates. "Since we have a small student body here, with around 180 students graduating at any given time, I get to know most of them really well, and it's a pleasure to see them cross that stage." Waterman says seeing that students, faculty, family and friends are happy and satisfied is what has kept her organizing the commencements since 1983. The size of commencements ranges from about 100 graduates--such as at the School of Medicine and Graduate School of Management--to more than 1,700 from the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. Nearly 2,500 undergraduate students go through the College of Letters and Science's two ceremonies, divided to handle the volume. Commencement coordinators who organize these spring ceremonies for nearly 6,000 undergraduate and graduate students spend their year working on the small details that, as in a mosaic, must be set in place for the big picture to unfold. Working with the FBI for security Besides giving instructions to students regarding caps, gowns and ceremony procedures, each year coordinators also must contact the guest commencement speakers' offices to make arrangements. This can be a long process if a high-profile individual speaker--say a U.S. Supreme Court justice or a U.S. attorney general, in the law school's case--is chosen. In those cases, a great deal of time is spent making arrangements with the speaker's office, the FBI and campus police on security matters. Additionally, commencement coordinators are in constant touch with the Registrar's Office to verify the graduation names and must keep their deans informed of changes. Other unsung heroes among staff are the campus police officers who calmly employ crowd-handling techniques and Transporta-tion and Parking Services personnel who maintain the parking lots and keep traffic flowing smoothly, according to Terry Quiring, the commencement coordinator for the College of Engineering. "In addition, the Recreation Hall staff sees to the bleachers, chairs, tables, lighting, sound and a million other details," she says. Besides depending on the service staff, commencement coordinators must find volunteers to work at the ceremonies. Even for a smaller graduation, like the one at the School of Veterinary Medicine, it takes 25 volunteers to line up and organize the students, help faculty and the official party (the dean and the provost or chancellor) walk in and organize themselves, and hand out programs. "Since we don't have rehearsals, it really is the volunteers who are to thank for getting everybody to march in the right direction," says Chris Milligan, the veterinary school's commencement coordinator for six years. Taping the Rec Hall floor The job of a commencement volunteer can be as seemingly mundane as taping the Rec Hall floor so students and faculty know where to go, says Dian Francis, the law school's assistant registrar. "Directing people to where they should be is a big part of the morning," Francis says. Excited, unorganized and distracted students are the volunteers' challenge. Staff members report that students tend to be concerned with finding their friends and family. Some wander in late. Others have been seen borrowing faculty robes the morning of the ceremony because they never ordered their own. Students often have problems obtaining the number of admission tickets they want, reports Shirley Jordan, commencement coordinator for the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences for the past 15 years. She attributes this to students ignoring the information mailed to them or inattention when filling out the commencement participation confirmation card. Trying to find students who need to have pictures taken is a major concern for Donarae Reynolds, assistant to Dean Rex Perschbacher and a law-school volunteer. "The students get very excited and don't want to get into a single-file line until it is time to march, then they get really serious," she says. Tricks in the apron Long-time volunteers like neurology, physiology and behavior's Hawke have developed a few tricks to help the graduates make it through. She provides bobby pins and extra tassels, which she keeps in a special apron that she wears to the ceremonies. Over in the College of Engineering, 35 volunteers follow a routine for setting up chairs and name cards for the stage party, as well as placing scrolls in the box and laying out medals and awards to be presented. While some other students seem to have a problem in following marching orders, few do in the Division of Biological Sciences, says Ellen Tani, commencement coordinator for the division. The division began having ceremonies separate from the College of Letters and Science seven years ago. "Science students are more cooperative and easier to work with. If you tell them to get in a double line they just do it," Tani says. Nevertheless, 25 volunteers are needed to help guests, students and commencement officials--as well as keep an eagle eye out for other types of mischievous behavior. Last year some students decided to have fun by body surfing a naked doll through the crowd of graduates. Tani and her crew of volunteers eventually took the doll away and deflated it. But she says, "The students liked it--and so did we, secretly."