CONVOCATION 2026:
Starting Our New Paltz Journey Together!
The Best Week Ever ends with our Official Welcome to New Paltz - New Student Convocation! Convocation is the first of two bookends of your University experience. In the same way our Commencement ceremony celebrates everything you accomplished along the way to earning your degree, Convocation celebrates who you are at the moment you become a New Paltz Hawk!
It is strongly encouraged all new students attend Convocation, as long as it does not interfere with your class schedule. Please wear your sage green new student tee shirt received at Orientation to convocation.
While Convocation begins at 5 pm on Old Main Quad, we will be having a Pre-Convocation event "Party at Parker;" to prepare for the festivities! We will have inflatables, live music and free ice cream for the first 400 attendees while you wait for the processional down to the big event! Rack up as many raffle tickets as possible to win big prizes - from tech, to $500 in hawk dollars, and much more - at convocation. Check out the Best Week Ever Booklet for more convocation information!
