Alumni In The Sunshine
Arick Ames
Staff Writer
Graduation is the day students are finally free. The day they get their diploma, confirming they have finally made it out of the crazy place called high school. One bad thing about it is that everyone is crammed into the gym to celebrate graduation. It makes it less pleasurable and always gets super hot, so people start to get sweaty and uncomfortable.
That’s why it would be very beneficial to have graduation outside. The football field and bleachers would be excellent amenities for having graduation. Graduates’ relatives could all fit and students could have their seats down on the ground by the podium. It would be spread out enough to make it enjoyable for everyone.
Of course, the school has to factor in weather and other lurking variables that could affect graduation. It may not be so nice that day, whether that be wind, rain or what have you. But if everything were to go as planned and the day were to be comfortable, then an outside graduation would be perfect.
There are multiple schools around the country that perform graduation ceremonies outside as well. Most of those, however, are larger schools. Not saying, small schools shouldn’t be able to, but if it’s a popular idea for others, then it would be a fantastic idea for Waverly.
A recurring theme at Waverly’s graduation is the good old air horn. What a better way for family to express their happiness for the graduates than using something loud to get people’s attention. The thing is, using it inside can cause problems. It can be very loud to others, and sometimes it can get you in trouble. So, if graduation was held outside, then using an air horn wouldn’t be as dramatic.
Plus, students always see those movies where the end of it they are all outside getting their diplomas, and they throw up their hats, then the screen freezes. How awesome would that be, theoretically, to have graduation feel like a movie?
Either way, it comes down to how the administration runs it. Hopefully, on graduation day, it wouldn’t matter to a student whether they are inside or outside, but it sounds like an intriguing idea. Who knows, maybe the school will look into it and eventually students could have that dream graduation day.
Until then, it will continue in its traditional way.
