If you can’t take the heat, don’t buy turf fields. Due to the increased ground temperatures caused by the turf fields, the graduation ceremony is in for serious changes. There is only one group of people opposed to the change: those who are actually graduating.

The administration polled the senior class, their parents, and the faculty, proposing graduation changes. They suggested that the Baccalaureate Mass and the graduation ceremony occur back-to-back on the turf field. Until this year, the Mass was held in the gym and the graduation ceremony on the field, with a brunch in between.

In the survey, the majority of seniors voted against change. The parents and faculty voted for change.

“We found the best way to [change it, and] that would be to combine the two events and keep it a little shorter. We had an expected pushback [from the students], but the parents, faculty, and staff have pushed for it,” Vice Principal of Student Affairs Brian Powell said.

Powell perfectly articulates the problem with these changes. Parents, faculty, and staff have pushed for it, but graduation is not about them. It’s about the students, who just so happen to be absent from Powell’s list of supporters.

Principal Madelyn Ball called the senior class together after collecting the survey results and admitted that while the administration understood the negative reaction of the seniors, it was going to proceed with the changes anyway.

If the graduates-to-be had liked these changes, then they are absolutely the right thing to do, but the general opinion of the seniors is that they do not want these changes.

The administration has lost sight of the importance of the graduation tradition. Graduation is the culminating event for a high school student and a bridge into independence. As such, it should not be about the comfort of the spectators, but about the experience of the graduates. It is selfish for the administrators to substitute comfort for tradition, as they’ve done so many times in the past. When the graduation is no longer about the seniors, the ceremony is virtually meaningless.

The administration is only concerned with the heat. By combining the ceremonies, they want to keep students and other guests on the turf in the morning, while avoiding the hot afternoon sun. This means that in order to have a cooler graduation, the administration plans on having the people outside in the sun for longer. While outside temperatures may be lower, the overall length of the ceremony increases the sun exposure with no breaks.

These changes also decrease the sense of community. Having Mass in the gym creates a strong community feel. Seniors sit surrounded by their parents and teachers. With Mass on the turf, students will sit with their backs to their families, who will be sitting on the bleachers, detached from them.

The brunch also provided a sense of community. Having a brunch after the Mass gives the seniors time to relax and enjoy their special day. It allows students to talk to their peers, teachers, and families. Removing brunch will rush the graduation ceremony and diminish what little sense of community is left.

The necessity of the brunch does not stop at social time. It also encompasses physical nourishment.

Graduation is a long event, taking up the morning and going into the afternoon. Students, parents, and faculty get hungry. Having brunch allowed people to rejuvenate themselves. By cutting this brunch, everyone involved in the ceremony will be sitting in the hot sun for an extended period of time with no nourishment or time to refresh themselves.

According to Powell, there will be a “social time” after the ceremony instead of the brunch. Yet with the former graduation set up, there was nothing to prevent the graduates from having a social time after the ceremony. People could stay and socialize or leave school as soon as the ceremony was completed. The biggest difference between the previous set up and the upcoming graduation’s set up is that the cafeteria will be available for socializing.
Graduation ceremony is the pinnacle of every high school experience and the final event for seniors to remember. The event used to focus on community and cater to the wants and needs of the graduating seniors. The senior class’ opinion should be respected and held above all others when considering changes to graduation. This is the only high school graduation the seniors will have, and they deserve to enjoy it.