A small group of behind-the-scenes employee helpers made last weekend’s UCSB Commencement ceremonies flow as smoothly as humanly possible when dealing with an estimated 4,500 graduates and 35,000 close friends and relatives.

“We had fewer people staffing the ceremonies than last year, but they did a great job,” said Meghan Dougherty of public events. “Parking also seemed to be smoother.”

About 125 campus employees stepped forward to staff the week’s events, which Public Events Director Gretchen Falvo coordinated with the assistance of Dougherty and many others. They handed out programs, pushed wheelchairs to and from the Campus Lagoon, sold souvenir books and cool drinks, staffed information tents, and assisted faculty members and graduates with their regalia. Employees had to have supervisors’ approval since comp or flex time is granted in exchange for commencement time.

There was plenty to do—and some recognition of the effort. Commencement worker Chris Muirhead found himself pushing guests in wheelchairs up and down the hill between the Faculty Club and the lagoon. “One lady called me her ‘private limousine service’,” he smiled.

Veteran event workers called this a “quieter” commencement than some they had witnessed. “There were fewer tortillas flying through the air,” noted Dougherty, who recalled such boisterousness from her own commencement in 2003.

The normal craziness reigned in the Events Center where students prepared for the moment they would walk across the stage to Chancellor Henry Yang. Some helpers, like Phyllis Gibson from the College of Letters and Science, applied sunscreen and bobby pins; others supplied replacements for lost tassels or held mirrors for lip gloss touchups.

They may not have known it, but helping the helpers were thoughtful touches by seasoned staff, like Winnie Yamada of the Public Affairs Office. She and her family designed and sewed the original, pocketed UCSB aprons that carry those extras, from sunscreen to tassels. Her husband, Aki, built and attached the easy-to-see wheelchair poles with the blue and gold tassels. Other staff came up with the many small improvements that doubtlessly added to this commencement’s smoothness.

More than 5,300 people also went online to see the commencement broadcast this year.