Graduation season is getting underway for college and high school students alike, which means an influx of traffic for people living around George Mason University.
GMU warns that “heavy traffic” is expected around its main Fairfax campus for the next month, with dozens of graduation ceremonies scheduled to take place at EagleBank Arena (4500 Patriot Circle).
Starting today (Monday) with an 11 a.m. commencement for Northern Virginia Community College, the indoor stadium will regularly host up to three graduation-related events per day through June 16, along with a couple of concerts in that time frame.
“Traffic may be entering and exiting campus from 8 a.m. until 10 p.m.,” GMU said in a news release. “Please allow extra travel time on and around campus.”
Mason will hold its own graduation celebrations later this week, starting with a degree ceremony for graduates of the Schar School of Policy and Government at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday (May 14) and concluding on Saturday (May 17) with events for public health, law and education students.
In addition, EagleBank Arena will host graduations for high schools from across Northern Virginia between May 27 and June 16. The slate of ceremonies will kick off with Robinson Secondary School at 9:30 a.m. on May 27.
Most Fairfax County schools, though, won’t get their ceremony until June:
Monday, June 2
- 9:30 a.m. — West Potomac High School
- 2 p.m. — Oakton High School
Tuesday, June 3
- 9:30 a.m. — Lewis High School
- 2 p.m. — Edison High School
- 7 p.m. — Herndon High School
Wednesday, June 4
- 9:30 a.m. — Lake Braddock High School
- 2 p.m. — Annandale High School
- 7 p.m. — South County High School
Thursday, June 5
- 9:30 a.m. — Hayfield High School
- 2 p.m. — Justice High School
- 7 p.m. — Centreville High School
Monday, June 9
- 9:30 a.m. — Westfield High School
- 2 p.m. — Falls Church High School
- 7 p.m. — West Springfield High School
Tuesday, June 10
- 9:30 a.m. — Woodson High School
- 2 p.m. — South Lakes High School
- 7 p.m. — Chantilly High School
Wednesday, June 11
- 9:30 a.m. — Thomas Jefferson High School
The graduation madness will wrap up with Briarwood High School from Ashburn at 2:30 p.m. on June 16. A full schedule of the ceremonies can be found on GMU’s website.
