Every year, Loy Norrix seniors walk across the Wings Event Center stage to shake Principal Auginaga’s hand and receive their diplomas. While the routine remains the same, each year is slightly different. As different classes graduate, different speakers give speeches and different senior videos are played. However, one thing stays the same: The message of graduation.
Graduation is a time of celebration. It is one of the biggest milestones for many, even if they pursue higher education.
It’s important for graduation to be well planned out, and students who are missing requirements or credits are alerted prior to graduation. Dean of Students Stephanie Perry and the school counselors get involved as early as possible.
“We start getting ready for graduation as soon as school starts,” said Perry. “We create a list of students who are supposed to graduate, we call it a cohort. The counselors go through and they mark who’s on track, who needs to take another class and who is really behind and needs more support and assistance.”
This year, there are over 300 seniors to keep track of, but not all seniors will be walking with their class. Some seniors opted to participate in alternative schooling at the Kalamazoo Innovative Learning Program (KILP) and Phoenix High School. KILP is a hybrid of in person and virtual school and Phoenix High School is an in-person school with smaller classes for a more personalized experience and fresh start.
“We do have some students this semester who have gone to KILP or Phoenix to finish up and the reason for that is because sometimes other things get in the way of kids earning that credit,” said Perry.
Since graduation requirements are different for every school, students going to alternative schools will graduate there.
Seniors must buy their own caps and gowns through packets the school provides. They can choose between white and blue gowns. Traditionally, women wear white and men wear blue, but it’s ultimately up to the student to choose.
During the ceremony, there are typically three speakers from the senior class. Students who are interested in speaking start preparing in February by meeting after school with English teacher Joe Kitzman, who facilitates the speech writing and selecting process..
“Mr. Kitzman works with the kids. He talks about the speech, he helps them through everything, the whole process. He’s in constant communication with them,” said Perry. “We will have a day where judges come in and we have criteria we will go through. Then we judge them and we look to see who’s going to make it to the next round. We also listen to their speech. Do we think that would be a good welcome, good middle or a good ending? This year, Mr. Kitzman said he had around 19 kids who turned in their speech.”
On the day of graduation, seniors and staff prepare for the ceremony by arriving at the Wings Event Center early in the morning to practice the walk until it’s near perfect.
“We go over to Wings during the day of graduation. The kids meet us there around 8:30 or 9 and we run through it until it looks good.,” said Perry. “The biggest thing is helping kids understand walking together with a partner and making sure there’s space.”
More celebrations follow after graduation itself, like Grad Bash. Grad Bash is planned by parents as a way for seniors to have a safe and responsible celebration with their classmates. In previous years, Grad Bash has been held at Craig’s Cruisers.
While seniors pay for their ticket to Grad Bash, the remaining costs for graduation are for decorations, diploma covers, balloons and the cost of setup, which can come out to anywhere between $25k-$30k.
After graduation, many students have graduation parties to celebrate their accomplishments with their friends and family.
