Grad. Facility Rules

The Georgia State Convocation Center has a clear bag policy. 

All Guests will be required to go through security procedures and devices (similar to entering the schools).

NO weapons will be allowed in the Convocation Center.

Concessions will be open

1. Limited menue 

2. NO alcohol will be served. 

Graduation balloons, flowers, and graduation themed souveniers will be sold on site.  

Flowers in paper, no vases will be allowed to be brought into the facility.

Handicapped and Limited Mobility: The facility is Handicapped Accessible. Seating for guests inside the arena are basketball stadium seats. Guests with wheelchairs or limited mobility have accessible seating with one additional seat at the concourse level around the entire arena. Due to limited accessible seating, families and groups may need to sit nearby.  When the available handicapped paring spaces are filled, the Atlanta Police and GSU Police are supposed to allow drop-offs (close to the entrance) for cars displaying their state handicapped placards. We have no control over this process.

Free Parking is available with limited number of handicapped parking spots in each space:

1. Parking Deck adjacent to the Convocation Center

2. Blue Lot: 76 Fulton St. SW, Atlanta, GA 30312

3. Green Lot: 640 Pollard Blvd. SW, Atlanta, GA 30312

Guest seating - 

1. This is general admission seating event. Tickets do not have seat numbers with the exception of the Valedictorian and Salutatorian section.

2. Valedictorians and Salutatorian section: They will each receive 20 tickets for their family and guests. Those tickets will be marked Val or Sal. Guests of Valedictorians and Salutatorians should have their ticket ready and make their way to Section 101 in the first 4 rows close to the left side of the stage.  There is ADA/Hanciapped seating at the concourse level of Section 101. Val and Sal guests are not required to sit in the Val and Sal section.

NO balloons, large posters, banners, or flags will be allowed in the Convocation Center for DCSD Graduation Ceremonies. The GSU website states otherwise, but that is for basketball games, not graduation ceremonies.

Duration: The graduation ceremony from start to finish is 1 hour. This is a DCSD policy and we have over 430 graduates. Please refrain from clapping until the end so that every student's family and friends can hear their name. With 430 graduates, we do not have time to wait for clapping to end before calling the next graduate's name.

Caps tossed at the end of the ceremony will go into the trash. Tossing it = trashing it. Throwing of caps is not allowed. Students tossing their hats will not be allowed to leave their recession lines to go and pick them up for themselves or others. Parents wanting to keep the cap and gown regalia should tell their student that they toss it they will not get it back. 

Dismissal & Meetup

1. Seniors riding the free Charter Bus back to Chamblee High School will load immediately after the recessional. 

2. Seniors riding home with their families will walk to Gate 2 at the top of the hill and meet their families.  

Additional information about the GSU Convocation Center's rules can be found on GSU Convocation's website (scroll down for FAQs.  FAQs are plentiful - cameras, strollers, medical needs, clear bag policy, etc.

Students with extra tickets are encouraged to share tickets with students who need more. 

1. Tickets may not be sold or purchased. 

2. There is NO Will Call at the Convocation Center.

3. If there are extra tickets, we may announce when and where to get them. Since the GroupMe had to be closed, parents and students should monitor this website for announcements regarding additional tickets. 

4. "Re-entry to the Convocation Center is prohibited. Children under the age of two years old do not need a ticket to enter if they sit in parent/guardian's lap. Any guest 2+ will require a ticket." GSU Website's FAQs.