With change in the air, April brings the excitement of new beginnings. Thursday marks the first day of graduation, with a university-wide commencement ceremony at the Marriott Center. On Friday, the College of Fine Arts and Communications will hold three convocation exercises in the de Jong Concert Hall honoring this year’s graduates. Over 500 graduates from December and April will be crossing the stage this spring. The Department of Communications will have the most graduates, followed by Visual Arts, the School of Music, Theatre & Media Arts and Dance. Each exercise will have a different speaker as well as student speakers and performers from their respective departments. Students were selected by their departments in February to speak at convocation. They have since worked tirelessly to practice and polish their speech with accompanying visuals, which is something unique the College of Fine Arts and Communications does in preparation for the ceremonies. Associate dean and TMA professor Rodger Sorensen will speak at the 8am session. Douglas McKinlay, a professor of communications who was instrumental in creating the renowned award-winning AdLab, will speak in the 11am commencement exercises. Accomplished painter, illustrator and professor Robert Barrett will address the visual art graduates at 2pm. According to Julee Braithwaite, a counselor and supervisor of the advisement center, it is extremely rewarding to be part of the graduation ceremonies. 'I am most pleased that as an academic advisor, I may have perhaps played a small part in guiding students towards their graduation goals,' she noted. 'I recognize that the accomplishment of graduation is a result of much personal determination, self-discipline and dedication on the students’ part and hope that as they move on to new opportunities, they will enjoy a sense of satisfaction in the things they learned, created and achieved while here at BYU.' Watch Convocation Live