As the class of 2023 wraps up their final year, the final thing left to do is walk across the stage and up into a new era. The upcoming graduation ceremony being held on the football field is the most anticipated and popular event for the class of 2023. 

Many students are excited to successfully complete four years of hard work; some are ready to transition to the next phase, whether it be further education, entering the workforce, or pursuing personal goals and aspirations. The event these seniors have waited four years for is said to be held on Monday, June 12.

  The graduation ceremony itself is being held after the last day of school. For many students, this has become a controversial topic. Many students feel conflicted with the date that has been chosen for their graduation ceremony.

For many graduating students, the concern of leaving and returning comes up. “The date for graduation they gave us was strange due to the fact it’s the week after school ends, so we just leave and return again,” graduation senior Diego Guzman said. Many students, like Guzman, think that it is strange to return to school after school ends to graduate.

Guzman goes on to say that “If I could suggest a date, it would be the Friday of the last week of school.” Many students agree with Guzman. Some say that it is odd for the graduation ceremony to be held on a Monday. “Mondays are busy days for most people, because it is the start of the week, and it may ruin plans that people’s families may have made to go on vacation after school ends,” Jasmine Ochoa, a soon-to-be alum, said.

Although most students expressed that they disliked the odd graduation date they were given, others have expressed that they liked some portions of the graduation date they were given. “Unless it was the last day of school. I do not wish it was before school ended, because students’ siblings can be present for them to support them at their graduation,” Ochoa said. Ochoa expresses her concern about families and how the graduation ceremony date should accommodate the families of diploma recipients.

Overall,  most of our cap-and-gown wearers expressed that the graduation ceremony date they were given was odd and they suggested that the graduation ceremony date should have been the last day of school. As we move forward, there will be many more graduation ceremonies held on campus. The student body hopes that administrators will be more flexible with the preferences and needs of the next graduating classes to come.