It’s what counts

30,000 people expected to attend morning exercises on Commencement Day

22,000 plastic Samsonite chairs and wooden chairs set up in Tercentenary Theatre

633-fold increase in the number of graduates from Harvard’s College, graduate, and professional schools this year (5,698 students as of June 6), compared to Harvard’s first Commencement in 1642 (9 graduates).

11,856 Harvard “H” vanilla ice cream bars with red jimmies served during Commencement Week

18,000 4-ounce boneless, skinless chicken breasts served during the 65,000 meals of Commencement Week

37,440 bottles of water, lemonade, or Snapple served during Commencement Week

43 plates per minute filled with veal scaloppine with madeira wine sauce during Honorands’ Dinner attended by President Rudenstine, honorary degree recipients, and others

79,200 sanitary disposable gloves used by Crimson Catering personnel during meals during Commencement Week

40,000 square feet of Harvard Yard re-seeded in April with Kentucky bluegrass and fescue perennial rye grass seed

1,700 stakes driven into ground to keep students off the re-seeded areas

0 number of years that students have stayed off the re-seeded areas before Commencement

1,000 feet of rope used to suspend the main tent in Tercentenary Theatre

40 large coffees per day drunk by Facilities Maintenance Organization Manager Jason Luke, his assistant Paul Remeika, and the handful of carpenters and electricians preparing the grounds for Commencement

4 hours per sleep per night, on average, had by Luke and Remeika the week before Commencement

2 hours of sleep had by Luke and Remeika the night before Commencement, between finishing counting the chairs in the Theatre and waking for Commencement Day

4 times Harvard horticulturalist Paul Smith hand-rings the 5,000-pound bell in Memorial Church, for 15-second periods, during Commencement

600 bags of trash, university-wide, following the lunches served on Commencement Day

4 tons of food waste collected for composting after Class Day and Commencement Day events

5,600 pounds of food, or 4,300 meals, donated to Second Helpings and the Greater Boston Food Bank after Commencement.