Letter to the editor: MHS student says 2017 graduation date should be changed
Dear editor,
The new 2017 graduation ceremony date for Marshfield High School conflicts with community events and many school sponsored activities involving the graduating seniors. The chosen weekend is suboptimal because Dairyfest occurs, girls soccer has a regional game, boys tennis has a match, track has its state meet, Main Street Conservatory of Dance has performances, and the Marshfield High School music department will be leaving to perform in Disney World.
All of these activities have seniors involved who would be forced to decide between going to their high school graduation and participating in possibly their last Marshfield High School extracurricular events. Personally, because I will be a senior next year and am involved in girls soccer and band, I would not like to choose between my graduation and my final games and performances representing Marshfield High School.
When the date was chosen, I believe not everyone was aware of the conflicts on this weekend with prescheduled school and community events. If Memorial Day weekend has worked for graduation in the past, it will most likely work in the future. Why change it?
Graduation is meant to recognize the achievements of seniors, but if many of them cannot attend their own graduation to receive their diploma, then how are family members, friends, and the school supposed to recognize them for their accomplishments?
I have looked forward to graduating and walking up on stage to receive my diploma, but if I am forced to choose whether to attend because of school conflicts that could have been avoided, my last memory when leaving MHS will not be positive.
Graduation represents a milestone in our lives, a next step to becoming who we want to be and showing we can accomplish something big. Because the date of 2017 graduation is on a poorly planned weekend, this milestone might not be placed in our lives for us to look back on and say, “Wow, we graduated high school.” Instead we could be saying, “We couldn’t go to our own graduation because the date was changed to benefit those not graduating yet.” Marshfield High School has a great reputation that might be tainted if many seniors are not able to attend their own graduation because of a poorly planned date.
Let all of us, the seniors of 2017, walk up in front of our community to physically receive a Marshfield High School diploma and show everyone our wonderful accomplishments. Marshfield School Board, you might not have realized these conflicts, but it is not too late to correct them. The weekend chosen for graduation next year is an unsatisfactory date for the community and, most importantly, the Class of 2017.
Emily Critelli
Leave a reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.