One of the big selling points heard around Madison during the failed campaigns to build a luxury gym onto Madison High School is that our kids need to graduate from their own high school instead of having to trundle off to some other building.
Oddly, Madison's freshly graduated adults seem not to be moping about town over having to spend last Sunday afternoon marching about in their robes in the DSU fieldhouse. The location of their graduation ceremony seems much less important than the location of the celebrations held before and after.
Around the state, numerous schools hold graduation off school grounds. Rapid City Central and Stevens go to the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center. Sioux Falls public schoolers take their diplomas at the Arena. O'Gorman's grads went this year to the Elmen Center. Brookings grads toss their hats in the Swiftel Center. Mitchell seniors do graduation and prom at the Corn Palace (oh, the photo ops!).
And in what could be the grandest setting for a South Dakota graduation, Hill City's seniors get to join the real world at Mount Rushmore. I might send my daughter to Hill City for high school just for that experience (assuming they would let me start a debate program, too!).
My wife recalls the excitement of traveling to the SDSU campus for her graduation from Brookings High School. We see a metaphorical appropriateness in graduating off school grounds. We put the past behind us, step outside the school walls, and enter the community in a different civic space. Having graduation somewhere besides your high school says quite literally, "Yes, you are out of high school. Get going!"
Twenty-one years ago, I received my MHS diploma. I remember very few details from the day. I certainly recall no angst over not getting to spend one more afternoon in the high school.
When the school board finally resurrects its building renovation plan (and what are they waiting for? our children could die!!!), watch out for that argument that our kids need to graduate from their own school building. Graduation is all about getting out of high school. Conducting that ceremony in other civic spaces is perfectly appropriate. As the kids in Hill City can attest, graduating off-campus can be quite grand.
Hill City has to have the Best Setting Ever for graduation.
Hill City is an NFL member with some active kids. http://www.nflonline.org/points_application/schoolprofile.php?id=5655
Your first big debate would be bringing the team East River to compete and joining the Rushmore District
Madison needs a new gym.
Not when we're down from six HS English teachers to three. Dribbling is not on the test.
Madison has six gyms I can think of. That's plenty.
About all I remember about HS graduation was that it was on my birthday and one of the girls took pity and decided I should be kissed at least once while in high school. Those were not the good old days.
As I have probably written before here and elsewhere, I do not remember if school and college classrooms were really spiffy with the latest, but I do remember if the teacher or professor was worth a tinker's damn.
Facilities are greatly exaggerated as a pressing need for real education. They do however offer opportunities for school board members and administrators to get their names on brass plates, banks to make money on bonds, architect's to extract fees for the fifth iteration of the same mediocre design, and it gives opportunity for all those who profit to practice their lobbying and publicity skills.