Georgetown Ceremony Front Area
Detailed Involvements
Events with rich location context
The ceremony front area is the public-facing stage where Bartlet will perform; it is where the crowd receives him and where the private tension must be converted into a composed address.
Celebratory, focused, and expectant as the audience applauds and watches the procession.
Stage for the public delivery of the commencement address and the display of institutional ritual.
Represents the public obligations of office, requiring personal anxieties to be temporarily set aside.
Open to attendees but controlled and monitored; the Presidential party leads the procession onto this area.
The front area of the ceremony is the public stage where Bartlet will speak; it receives the procession and the crowd's applause, framing the President's role as both orator and father.
Ceremonial and warm, filled with applause and ritual music.
Audience-facing stage where the President and Chancellor enter and interact with the crowd.
Embodies institutional pomp and the public expectations placed on leadership.
Open to ceremonies' invited public — graduates, families, and officials; controlled security presence.
The ceremony's front area is the public stage they enter into; it is where the ritual, applause, and public visibility occur, collapsing private anxiety into a communal celebration and setting the scene for the speech proper.
Ceremonial, celebratory, outwardly buoyant despite undercurrents of private tension.
Stage for public appearance and the commencement address.
Embodies institutional ritual and the presidency's public face.
Open to ticketed attendees, family members, and vetted guests; monitored by university/official staff.
Events at This Location
Everything that happens here
At the top of Georgetown's staircase Bartlet and Will make last-minute edits to the commencement address, briefly sparring over whether to lead with Eudora Welty or Gandhi. Will praises the …
Bartlet and Will make last-minute choices about a commencement quotation while Will quietly names the speech a "home run" yet admits it won't keep Zoey from leaving — exposing the …
On the staircase outside Georgetown's hall, President Bartlet and Will trade last-minute tonal choices for a commencement speech while Bartlet's light humor masks a deeper paternal anxiety. Will notes the …