The Class of 2026 is set to have its graduation ceremony at Allen Fieldhouse on May 19 due to the summer track replacement. The location change has sparked some controversy among students.
Following the announcement, senior Phoebe Morris started a petition with the intention of postponing the track construction so the ceremony could be held at Free State. Despite Morris collecting 157 signatures from families and students, she said she is worried that it is not possible to change construction plans.
“I figured that wasn’t gonna happen, I just wanted to show that we were mad about the decision,” Morris said.
Even though Morris said she felt that administrators tried to postpone the track construction, she said they didn’t fully take into account the students’ perspective on the location change.
“They were concerned about it, but I don’t think they realized the personal effect that it has on their students,” Morris said.
While Morris said she understands why the location change was made and thinks there are some advantages, she thinks that they don’t outweigh the sentimental value of graduating on the field.
Board of Education president GR Gordon-Ross said that the pushback and concerns from students have been heard and have been taken into consideration, but the construction timeline would clash with the fall sports schedule if postponed.
“Superintendent Dr. Swift and Director of Facilities and Operations Dr. Englebrick met with our contractors to get a realistic view of the timeline,” Gordon-Ross said. “They made the determination that if we push the start of that work, we would severely impact things in the fall more than we would impact them in the spring.”
Gordon-Ross said that he read the petition against the location change and felt like the students made a strong argument as to why they wanted the graduation to be held at Free State.
“They were very passionate about wanting it to be at their school and they did a really good job of making their case,” Gordon-Ross said. “Despite making the best case in the world, sometimes the bigger picture wins out. In this case, the bigger picture is trying to impact the fewest number of students.”
English teacher and member of the graduation committee Adam Smith said that there are advantages to the location change, but the biggest disadvantage is that the ceremony is not on school grounds and is indoors.
“If the weather is beautiful, I know that the graduates would much rather be outside for graduation, understandably,” Smith said.
Smith said that the overall energy of the graduation could be different since it’s not outdoors, but he doesn’t think that much will change.
“It’s just different when it’s outside, energy wise, I don’t think it’s gonna be any different,” Smith said. “Those who are graduating are going to be super excited no matter what.”
