How were kids seated at Graduation? updated post #86

[mom2rtk]

When I graduated, the Valedictorian and Salutatorian sat on stage, everyone else walked in alphabetically. I was number 3, and I won't lie, it was a little disappointing. But not the end of the world. Never would have dreamed of making a fuss.

My kids' school seats the top 1% on stage, the rest walked in a random order. When we went to our first son's graduation and saw how they did it I told son #2 I'd slip him a twenty if he got seated on stage. It was a running joke for the next 2 years. He did it though.

 

[marius97]

If we did the top 20 sitting up front...it would have been a third of the class. I don't think that we even separated out the student speakers if I remember correctly. 20 years makes the memories a bit foggy.

 

[tvguy]

Now that's just sad.
Why not set the graduation ceremony a week later or something? Seems like it would avoid issues like that?

I think the school monitored the kids who they knew close. As I recall these are kids who unexpectedly bombed their finals. Finals were Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, graduation on Thursday. I know the school really puts the screws to the teachers to get finals corrected and final grades in by Wednesday afternoon.
But this was private Catholic school. I think in the public schools, everyone walks with their class, then finds out later they didn't graduate.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Alphabetical I think. Not sure if they have other kids seated in front. Really did not pay attention.

 

[KAMLEM]

My youngest DD just graduated. The class officers, valedictorian and salutatorian sat in front and the rest was by height. She is only 5'1" so she made it into the front row.

 

[Flamingeaux]

At DD's graduation in May they put the honor students on the first couple rows and the rest where seated alphabetically. It was very entertaining. People yell the darndest things.

 

[HM]

Alphabetical
The student speakers sit on stage

 

[JennaDeeDooDah]

The top 10 lead the class in and sat on the first row. Then, the rest were seated alphabetically. I graduated 12th, so it kind of stunk that I wasn't on the first row, but I knew that the others had earned it and I hadn't. It turned out pretty cool, though, because I ended up walking with a guy I had known my entire life. In fact, his parents were the maid of honor and best man at my parents' wedding. We went to kindergarten on the first day of school together. As we were walking, he says to me, "Well, Jen, this is pretty cool. We started together and we're going to finish together."

 

[PlaneJoy1]

I plan the graduation at the school I teach at and I think its the same at the other county high school as well. First are the honor grads in alpha order (students who meet a strict set of standards based on GPA and course rigor), then all other students in alpha order. We differ in that we don't name Val and Sal until the night of graduation but some of the other schools have theirs do a speech.

 

[cfriend416]

We did ours by height so it went shortest to tallest as you marched in. Girls on the right, boys on the left until you were "out" of one or the other then you had same sex pairs marching. Girls wore white, boys dark blue.

Ours was similar to this, except the top 2 students and I think class president were in the front. We lined ourselves up during rehearsal, and the teachers wrote down the order for the ceremony. We just had to remember who was in front of and behind us. Since we lined ourselves up, we could fudge it and stand next to friends if they were close enough in height. Many girls wore heels to the ceremony which screwed up the height thin anyway.

 

[Jedana]

For DD2's graduation, they had the valedictorians/salutorians in the first couple rows--seated by GPA (then alphabetical for those that were tied); the very tippy top valedictorian and the class president were on stage, and spoke. There were probably 30 people on the stage--honorees, principal, Vice Principals, etc.

The rest of the kids were seated in alphabetical order. The band/flag team and chorus (lower classmen) were seated in a section in the stadium, so they could play/sing (flag team didn't do anything, but were invited to sit with the band anyways). The seniors were expected to join them for the playing/singing, then leave at the last minute to slip down and march in. The year my daughter graduated, the band/chorus/flag team area was almost emptied because it was 80% seniors.

 

[Disneychix]

We had a million people on stage! The whole "honor club" which was the top 10% sat in GPA order on stage. In the front was the Val/Sal with the class officers and the student body officers.
Everyone else sat alpha order in the aud seats.
I graduated with about 330 people.

 

[wendy46001]

Graduated in 97 (class of 997)
we had 10 valedictorians ...ugh and two salutatorians, they went first
than student council, magnet programs, honor society, Bata club
and finally the masses in alphabetical order.

It was crazy and silly
also the longest four and a half hours of my life

 

[nene0182]

I have no idea how we were seated at my HS graduation. I know I walked in with my best friend and our last names were not close alphabetically (mine was a B, hers was an S) I was an honor student and she wasn't so I'm thinking it was randomly.

 

[usd2bmd]

Not sure about our high school here in Ohio, but my high school in Indiana did it alphabetically. Seems like a dumb thing to throw a fit over.

This was my thought as well. I understand being a little upset. But the kids are all going to be recognized for their work. From what I understand the fit was a pretty big one too.

Smitch: not that surprise over the uproar considering how entitled our society has become. Just parents teaching their children that they are more special than anyone else

This just makes me sad. This is the one thing I have never tried to teach my daughter.

 

[leebee]

When DD20 graduated (in 2011, class of about 100), they walked in by height (until they ran out of boys… then just girls paired up). Girls were in the left column, boys in the right, and girls sat stage left, boys stage right. Speakers came out from wherever they happened to be sitting. Everyone wore maroon. The girls were told to bring their "graduation shoes" to practice so they could get the heights correctly, so the diplomas would be in the correct order.

When I graduated from high school in 1974, there were over 1000 in my class! Faculty and school board sat on stage, graduates in chairs facing the stage, parents and friends in the bleachers behind the graduates (it was on the football field). Girls wore white, boys wore blue, and you lined up in any order, in your appropriate column. I can't remember if student speakers were in the first row facing the stage, but I bet they were. We each had a card to hand to the announcer, who read your name as you walked across the stage, shook hands with the principal, and received a BLANK diploma folder. Actual diplomas were received in the mail, about a week after graduation. With that many kids, I don't know how else they could have done it, especially as some of the kids blew off graduation.

 

[ronandannette]

One of the high schools here did theirs by GPA. As they went up the steps to the stage, they handed the person at the mic a card with their name on it...

I guess I am old school and think it should be alphabetically.

The entire class lined up according to their grades? Sucks to be the last kid in that group I bet. Let's just say we (and our DS) are glad his school is doing it alphabetically. In fact I think there's no way he would even go to the ceremony if he were to be the last in a lineup like that announcing that he was the "dumbest kid in the school". Hopefully there's some consideration given for the LD and special-needs kids; they have often put in massive amounts of effort to get that far.

 

[Tosie]

My son attended a Technical HS and the graduates were seated with their shops - Graphic Arts together, Culinary together, etc.

He was in the 3rd row with the other Engineering students and was also the Salutatorian.

No issues here.

 

[mom2rtk]

It was crazy and silly
also the longest four and a half hours of my life

My sons' graduating classes had around 300 each. The ceremony was right around an hour. Just perfect. That was probably because they ran 3 ceremonies a day at that venue. But it didn't need to be longer.

The entire class lined up according to their grades? Sucks to be the last kid in that group I bet.

I'm all for recognizing accomplishment, but that really would stink. No need to embarrass anyone. I have a hunch many of those lower ranking students might just not show. And for many of them, just graduating is something that should be recognized.

 

[cabanafrau]

I think the school monitored the kids who they knew close. As I recall these are kids who unexpectedly bombed their finals. Finals were Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, graduation on Thursday. I know the school really puts the screws to the teachers to get finals corrected and final grades in by Wednesday afternoon.
But this was private Catholic school. I think in the public schools, everyone walks with their class, then finds out later they didn't graduate.

I assume you're talking about the public schools in your area. I've never heard of "graduates" walking if they're not receiving their diploma, public or private schools, now or even back when I graduated from (private) school way back when dinosaurs roamed the earth.

For older DD's graduation the val, sal & class president sat in the front row because they were speaking, but all of the rest was alphabetical, including our special ed kids who are cognitively impaired. It was touching to see the typically abled kids reach out to support the impaired kids when their nerves kicked in.