High school graduation ceremonies and traditions are something that most people go through once they complete secondary education, but not everyone knows why society still continues to celebrate completing high school.

   “…Fnishing high school is an accomplishment that not many kids have the opportunity to, to can or have the grit to finish. And it’s important to recognize that you’re finishing 13 years of giving it your best, hopefully to finish something that is big and is opening your life into adulthood and the new opportunities you will have in the future,” Giselle Escobar, assistant principal, said.

In order to celebrate high school graduates, there’s a variety of aspects that need to be planned before soon-to-be alumni walk at the graduation ceremony. 

   One of the things that makes up graduation are the caps and gowns that students wear during the ceremony. The graduation cap is a square shaped, flat hat and the gown is a silk cloak like piece of clothing that you wear like a coat. 

   “Modern-day academic regalia, better known as the “cap and gown,” can be traced to early European universities, which were founded as seminaries and monasteries and where scholars were required to wear monastic habits. Universities often were housed in cold, damp castles, so wearing a hood provided a layer of warmth and protection,” according to the Georgia institute of Technology news center. 

   The cloak-like look of the gown was intentional because it helped with keeping the graduates comfortable with the weather conditions while being influenced by religious tradition. 

   “Academic regalia began in early European universities, where students and teachers often wore clothing influenced by religious and scholarly traditions. Many scholars were connected to the church, and long robes and hoods were practical in cold, unheated buildings,” according to The Graduation Source.

   Although caps and gowns are an important tradition of graduation ceremonies, the cords, stoles and metals that graduates wear over their gown is a significant tradition of graduation.

   “The intercambio graduation cords represent over 180 hours of community service. A two year mentor receives a different cord than a one year mentor. So it also signifies how long they were in the program. But  it shows you participated and you did something more than just go to school,” Chris Thompson, Intercambio teacher, said.

    For some graduates, cords, stoles and metals represent additional work and accomplishments they completed during high school.

   “…I think the reason why people care about [cords] is it represents the time that you put into a community, and it’s like a unique way to…show up everyone at graduation, like,this is what I’ve been doing in the last four years,”, Gavin Erickson, senior choir president and Thespian member, said. 

   Along with graduation ceremonies and the regalia that goes with it, there are a variety of traditions that follow suit. Within these various traditions, families and cultures have unique ones to themselves.

   “I grew up in Peru and I went to a Peruvian German school. There were 68 kids that graduated in my cohort, very tight, very together. The celebration was at school and at somebody’s house. It is fully catered with food. Your parents come to your prom party, your siblings come to your prom party, it’s very different,” Escobar said.

   For some students, because they’re the first in their family to graduate from high school, graduation means a lot.

   “My parents are really big on education. And my dad, unfortunately, never got to finish high school because he lived in a country where there was, like, a lot of war. So me  finishing the step that he never got to means a lot to me. And then they’re always big on college. So I’m gonna go to college,” Lara Dbouk, senior Muslim Student Association event coordinator, said.