<p>Although the graduations were a month ago, I wanted to share how different they were albeit both were held under sunny and hot conditions. Also, one was much better controlled in terms of time whereas the other seemed to go on and on and on . . .</p>
<p>The first graduation was my D’s high school ceremony that began at 1 p.m. Held outdoors in 90-degree temps and under cloudless skies in a quad bereft of trees (just a few), it took close to three hours. There were two student speakers, three musical performances, and two long talks by administrators, one of whom was the commencement speaker. As soon as graduates’ names were called (thank goodness D’s surname is at the beginning of the alphabet!), people evacuated the area to seek solace in the school building where they could get ice-cold water to drink. The thought was lovely, but the ceremony could have been shorter.</p>
<p>The second graduation was my S’s college ceremony that began at 4 p.m. Also held outdoors in 80-degree temps and under cloudless skies in a court similarly bereft of trees (the relatives had learned from experience to sit in the shade while mother sat in the sun to take the photos), it took only two hours from start to finish. The graduate student speakers danced for part of their speech (five to ten minutes). The undergraduate student speaker called for activism on behalf of the arts (also five to ten). The dean spoke for just a few minutes to introduce and acknowledge dignitaries and bestow honors, and then accompanied the commencement speaker on string bass while the commencement speaker spoke and sang (while playing the banjo) parts of four songs including a sing-along (20 minutes total). This was a joyous occasion that left the audience appreciative of the administration’s consideration of their time and feeling that they had witnessed a true celebration of the graduates’ lives to come. I certainly came away much more refreshed than I had been when I arrived!</p>
<p>Our kids must have graduated high school on the same brutally hot day in June! :eek:</p>
<p>Why are these things always held at 1 PM in the middle of an open field. They play baseball under the lights - why can’t they do a graduation the same way? </p>
<p>Our graduations are held in the school’s large football stadium starting at 7 PM. The lights go on as it gets dark. However, there are many thunderstorms in June in our area, and there was a threat of a storm hanging over the whole ceremony, with distant thunder rumbling in the background. Luckily, the ceremony was completed rain-free.</p>
<p>Last year: at 7pm on a late June day, S’s HS graduation was interrupted and abruptly ended by torrential rainpour and thunderstorm. No alternate provisions were made; they just, basically, didn’t have a graduation. S thought it was big fun, but a lot of families were pretty ticked.</p>
<p>Intermittent rain showers throughout the ceremony, held on the front lawn of the school. 425 graduates, so it took awhile, but fortunately only 2 (selected) speakers. District policy did away with valedictorian and salutarian many years ago. Most of the parents had umbrellas, but not so the graduates. Every flash had the attendees thinking lightning, but fortunately it was only the multitude of cameras.</p>
<p>What a great night!</p>
<p>The students follow graduation with an all-night party which begins at 10:30 p.m. and ends at 6:00 a.m. the next morning. Most graduates attend.</p>
<p>Ugh - graduation is one thing I am definitely NOT looking forward to. D’s high school has it at an outdoor pavilion (Houston in MAY). Students’ families are limited to two seats under the covering, otherwise it’s lawn seats in the sun. D is in a class of around 1200 students and she’s at the end of the alphabet. Unfortunately, short of hospitalization, there is no excuse for skipping graduation. Pass the sunblock, please.</p>
<p>Starting with my daughters class 2 years ago, graduation is held in the gym. The largest class in the high school has around 250 and each graduate gets 7 tickets to hand out. I bet they avg. much less then that per person though. It’s air conditioned! The floor is filled with chairs for graduates and the handicapped. If one member of the family is handicapped, the rest of the family can sit with him/her. As the students approach the podium a baby picture and then the senior picture is shown on a wide screen on the back wall. Afterwards there is a very casual reception in the cafeteria with cookies and punch. One thing our school has done right!</p>
<p>Four years ago when S graduated from high school, due to right the previous night, the decision was made at 9 a.m. to hold the graduation inside the gym that has a small capacity than the quad. On top of that, the weather turned bright, sunny, and–you guessed it!–hot, hot, hot. Fortunately, we were able to squeeze our five family members onto some bleacher seats and were lucky enough to sit under an air conditioning vent. At least we were shielded from the sun.</p>
<p>I guess I deserved to be slapped for saying this. My grad was in a civic auditorium, chandeliers and everything. That was a great ending to 4 yrs of hard work.</p>
<p>Mine was last year. note that the reasoning behind some of the events at my graduation are a really long story that I eventually may post, but not now…</p>
<p>Held in a community center banquet room, or something like that, ours was really small- 11 graduates, two of which are my best friends. Given the small amount of graduates, and the minimal 60 student population, teachers knew the students very well - in fact, I met the Site Director (coolest guy I have EVER met) on my first day of 8th grade. We elected him to give the commencement speech, which involved him highlighting three things about our personality or achievements (mine were photography - more precisely photojournalism- capturing people’s feelings, technolgy - I helped set up our school’s first computers and assisted a lot of kids who needed to create maps for American History, and “Stability,” which I thought was just kinda wierd). </p>
<p>Unlike the typical memories created from a high school graduation, our crowd was small enough to allow my dad (a former professional, and now emerging professional photograper) to get good shots of every student - something we did again this year.</p>
<p>Oh, and I went back for the last two days. They had a ‘powerpoint’ week in which everyone made a short presentation - I knew more than most of the teachers but also created a bunch of videos with my digital camera.</p>
<p>We have 4 HS’s that graduate within 3 hours of each other on the same day. Smallest school had over 400 grads, largest around 800. District rents the sports pavillion of a local college for the day. This is TX - it gets hot, so we are indoors in air conditioning. The overnight party is after prom, and most kids go.</p>
<p>My district rented the Toyota Center (basketball arena where the Rockets play) for 2 days for 9 or 10 schools to graduate, all with classes of at least 500. Inside, shielded from the sun, air conditioned, and with unlimited seating was nice. And a picture of the stage was projected on a large screen so that parents could actually see their child walk across the stage. However, my school was last because it was the largest class (668) and graduation lasted 3 hours, even though most of the speechs were short. I honestly didn’t know half of my class, and when at the after-gradution lock-in (ProGrad), I saw people I’ve never seen before. Lovely large public school.</p>
<p>The price to pay for the nice place to graduate… if the Rockets won everything and made it to the playoffs, we were to be exiled to the district’s big football stadium where there would be 2 tickets per family while the arena was used for a basketball game. Nice gamble for the district to make for us, and this year the Rockets almost made it. Am I a bad person for wanting them to loose?</p>
</p>