This year’s Haskell Indian Nations University commencement is sure to be bigger than most.

“We have 186 students who we expect to graduate,” said Haskell Registrar Manny King. “That’s a record for us. We usually have somewhere between 160 and 170.”

More than 2,500 people are expected to attend commencement ceremonies, starting at 10 a.m. Friday at Haskell Memorial Stadium.

A two-day powwow in honor of this year’s graduates is set for 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the powwow grounds on the west edge of the Haskell campus.

Plans call for crowning Miss Haskell during the Friday powwow.

King said he wasn’t sure how to explain the record number of graduates.

“Part of it, I think, is that more and more students are grabbing on to the fact that they can come here to get a four-year degree,” he said. “And it seems like we’re seeing a lot of students who may have left in the past, sat out for a while and came back ready to study.”

Of the 186 graduates, 76 will receive bachelor’s degrees in either American Indian Studies, business, environmental science or elementary education.

“It’s a hard number to track, but we think about half of (four-year) graduates plan on going on to law school or graduate school,” King said. “That’s what it’s been in the past.”

Eliza Lindquist, 28, is this year’s Student of the Year, a designation comparable to valedictorian. She’ll start dental school in the fall.

“For me, financially, there was no way I could have afforded college if it hadn’t been for Haskell,” Lindquist said. “I was a single mom.”

Lindquist, a member of the Te-Moak Tribe of Western Shoshone, moved from Reno, Nev., to Lawrence in 2000 to be with her boyfriend, Travis, an economics major at Kansas University. They’ve since married.

While at Haskell, Lindquist maintained a 4.0 grade-point average.

“I really enjoyed the atmosphere here,” she said. “It’s so unique, there are so many students here from so many different backgrounds. It’s been a very good experience for me.”

Lindquist is the first in her family to graduate from Haskell. Her grandmother, aunt, uncle, sister and brother will be here for commencement.

“My mom lives in Maui. We’re going to go see her later,” she said. “My dad lives in Nevada and is unable to make it.”

Lindquist said she and her husband and her 12-year-old daughter, Jaymee, hoped to stay in Lawrence.

“We really like it here,” she said.