As the school year comes to a close, one final guest will step foot on Ashland’s campus. Senator Sherrod Brown will be the commencement speaker at the 2010-2011 spring graduation.

“Senator Sherrod Brown has been an advocate of higher education for a long time,” President Dr. Fred Finks said. “He has convened an annual gathering of Ohio Presidents of both private and public institutions in Washington for the past four years. He is interested in strengthening the educational opportunities of the constituents of Ohio.”

Brown has spoken at Ashland University before, in the 1990s when Ashland’s Young Democrats asked him to. It is an honor to have him as a commencement speaker and this time, there is nothing political about it. It’s for the seniors and about the seniors.

“We have the honor of hosting a U.S. Senator as our graduation speaker,” Finks said. “This is not a political decision, nor are we asking for a political speech.”

While underclassmen are itching to get home and juniors are complaining about having senioritis already, many seniors are wishing that the school year would continue forever, if not for just a few more months. No one wants the papers or tests, most likely, but the college atmosphere, extracurriculars and friends are something to cling to.

While some underclassmen may be praying for the end of the road, there is a possibility that they will be wishing that the school year had continued too, once they realize how many of their senior friends are on their way out into the real world.

This May, 665 students will be walking at graduation.

“It’s a huge class,” Steve Hannan, director of public relations, said. “I was very surprised by that.”

This huge group of students will be walking on Founders Lawn. Originally, a poll was sent out to all seniors, asking them where they would like to graduate; Founders Lawn and Jack Miller Stadium were their options.

“The vote was very close,” Hannan said. “54 percent favored Jack Miller.”

However, when it came down to it, there was concern that the stadium wouldn’t hold everyone. The plan was to seat the 665 seniors, as well as all the guests (up to four tickets per walking senior) in the stands on Ashland’s home side. Hannan said that the stadium’s home stands seat around 3,500 and in previous years there has always been about 4,500 chairs set out for graduation. It was decided that graduation would remain on Founders Lawn.

Six thousand chairs total are rented for graduation. After the 4,500 are set out on Founders Lawn, 1,000 are set up in Kates Gymnasium as a back-up plan for bad weather. That leaves an extra 500 chairs, just in case.

The physical plant is cleaning up the area around Founders. Unfortunately with the Ohio weather, it has been difficult to accomplish and is still being worked on.

“I hope we have nice weather,” Hannan said. “I would hate to be in the gym.”

Graduation is May 7 at 10 a.m.