This year, Rutgers University celebrated the graduation of 11,000 students with 40,000 faculty, staff, and attendees packing the High Point Solutions Stadium. President Obama was the honorary speaker of the 2016 ceremony, and delivered a memorable speech to the graduating class. (Watch President Obama’s full speech here) Mountain Productions proudly provided staging, flooring, and additional structures for the event. This is the sixth year in a row Mountain has been involved with Rutgers’ commencement ceremony.
The main stage was a Supermega Truss Tower (SMT) System with a Thomas Truss roof grid that stood 40’ tall with a stage opening of 61’ wide. Flanking the central main stage were two 40’ tall scaffold walls supporting video screens, and 2 smaller side stages. Multiple press risers, speaker platforms and camera platforms were also built around the stadium. Two of our 22’ tall SMT delay towers were provided for additional audio support. BML Blackbird and Effects Unlimited provided video and sound production for the ceremony.
An important element of staging events in stadiums is reliable flooring to protect the grounds. Mountain Productions provided 120,000 sq/ft of Terratrak flooring (both drivable and pedestrian). Terratrak Plus is a super strong flooring product that protects the turf beneath it while supporting heavy vehicle traffic from forklifts, cranes, and additional event vehicles. Once the stadium was prepped with flooring, crews set up 11,000 folding chairs for the graduates.
