News Story

With fourth quarter approaching, seniors are starting to keep their eyes on the end of the year and especially June 5th, graduation. But despite the excitement of graduation, there is a long time rule that may keep graduate's family and friends from attending the ceremony. When the decision is made to have graduation indoors or outdoors, the administration is also making the choice whether or not to require tickets to attend the ceremony. A week before graduation students are each given three tickets to graduation for their family members. If the ceremony is indoors, then only a maximum of three people for each student can attend the ceremony. But if the ceremony is outdoors, there is no need for a ticket to attend. Outdoor graduation is much more preferred with students because of the fact that it would be outside in the nice weather not cooped up in a gym, but also that they don't have a limit of guests who can come. When I asked Brittany Leeder what the school could do to make attendance easier for families she replied "maybe have the ceremony at a different facility that fits more people". That is a very smart idea and would solve the problem of having too many family members attend. This rule especially affects graduates with big families, like Ben Parranto who graduated in 2009. "I have 4 sisters and both my grandparents wanted to come, but since graduation was indoors, only my mom, dad and grandma could attend". When asked both Ben and Brittany were hoping for graduation outdoors for their own graduation ceremony. When I asked a faculty member the reason behind the three ticket rule they replied "this rule is enforced so the gym does not exceed its capacity and the gym does not become so crowded it is uncomfortable". Which is totally understandable. Being apart of a large graduating vlass has its adavantages and its disadvantages, such as not being able to have all your family and friends attend your graduation ceremony. But as it turns out Eastview is not the only school that has this three ticket maximum rule. There are many other highschools around the country with the same policy. The policy is totally justifiable and reasonable but it is very inconvienient to students and their familes. When asked, students at Eastview like Brittany Leeder also thought the same of the rule, reasonable but inconvienent. "There may be students who will not be using all three of their tickets to graduation so I encourage students in need of extra tickets to ask around for others students' uneeded tickets" explains a staff member at EVHS. The three ticket rule raises much controversy over big families, or just students who need those extra tickets for extended family members or friends. "My mom and dad will for sure be coming along but about my three siblings, I guess they will have to work that out themselves, Brittany Leeder replied when asked how she will decide on who in her family will get to attend the ceremony. She also thinks that the reason the school is so hesistant to have it outdoors is fear of the weather going wrong, or the climate being too unfortable to sit in for a long period of time. The positives definatly outweigh the negatives for outside graduation. With March being in full swing, we'll just have to wait and see which way the school decides for the 2010 graduation ceremony.