Americans, Help Me! - Comments

My high school graduation was super long, too. I had 623 graduating students in my class.

Our day started at 5, when we went to school dressed in our nice clothes and caps/gowns/tassels (our school colors are red and white) and were checked for phones and if people needed an extra sash or tassel or bobby pins to pin down the cap (they were super hard and some people would loose their sashes for some reason and they cost like $23 American dollars which is a lot for a white polyester sash with a big red T on the front) then around 6, in two lines we walked to the field where the class of 1966 congratulated us and shook our hands as we continued to our seats. After we all got to our seats, staying standed we did the pledge of allegiance sung by our choir. After, the Mayor was there to talk about how proud he was of us and other boring stuff.

After the mayor spoke our principal gave a speech then three students, two regular the other ranking #2 in our class, gave speeches too before the valedictorian gave his speech. Come time for getting certificates, in our rows we will walk towards the stage (we are outside on the football field) and as the person in front of us gets their certificates, we posed for pictures then when you actually get your certificate, we shook hands with the principal or vice principal and posed for another picture before returning to our seats.

After everyone got their certificates, the principal declares us all graduated with a tassel turn as a class (I cried like a baby) and other things before we all laughed and cried, threw our caps in the air and shouted obscenities. I don't remember our class song, but during one of the speeches, a girl used four songs that were the top hits on the radio at the time we started that school year which was cool) Then everyone basically scattered like bugs to their families to eat and take more pictures. I personally met up with my friends to take more pictures with them and my family at the restaurant we ate at afterwards.

because my school had a very specific way of doing things, this is kind of vague but feel free to PM me if you have any more questions regarding American graduations!

I had a really small graduation because my high school class was only like, 130 students. But basically, after parents were seated, the students would walk in two lines down two opposite aisles and file onto stage. At my high school, the boys and girls wore different color gowns and we were coordinated so that, when sat on stage, the two colors made an "M" (the initial of our school). It was yellow gowns/caps for girls and blue caps/gowns for boys. If you earned cords, you also wore those. Plus, the top students were awarded medals to wear.

First, the students on stage sang the national anthem. There was lots of speeches - the principal, class president, valedictorian. Then everyone was called up one by one to walk across the stage, shake the principal's hand, and get their diplomas. When this was finished, everyone was still on stage.

Schools in my area always have a class song. Our's was "See You Again" by Charlie Puth, and the words were changed to talk about graduating/our high school. I'm not sure how common this is in other areas, though? We also sang. our alma mater, which is like our high school's official song. During this, everyone always holds pinkies and sway.

To finish it up, there's the tassel turn! That's like, the official guide of graduating, haha. There are so many ways schools do it - ours did it in a dance - but everyone flips the tassel on their cap to the other side and it signifies that you've graduated. Then everyone walks out one by one again. Typically, everyone hangs around outside afterwards for pictures and goodbyes.

pocahontas. basically said everything but my school was a tad bit different.

My graduating class had over 1100 students so we walked out in two lines and it still took 20 minutes. Then we had all the speeches Pocahontas mentioned but also a guest speaker came. Our principal and student council gave speeches as well and our chorus sang a few songs.

Because my graduating class was so big, our names didn't get called one at a time and then shook the principal's hand. Instead, teachers (who were also dressed in black cap and gowns you see at universities) lines up in the front and students got up a row at a time and were assigned a teacher. The "diploma" we received was really the diploma holder. We had to go back to the school later that week to get the actual paper.

We also had the cords and sashes and each one meant something different. But my school also required everyone to wear a medallion and I believe some other schools do something like this as well. High school cap and gowns are also the school's colors. My school's were green and gold so we wore green caps and gowns and our tassels were gold. We weren't allowed to decorate our caps but some did anyway.

A lot of movies depict high school graduates throwing their caps in the air, but I would be careful with this because many American schools actually don't allow this. Of course at my graduation many people did it anyway but it was looked down upon by some school staff.

The last thing I can think of is how people sit. Some schools required you to sit alphabetical order by last name. Others (like mine) did it by home room.

Aye alright so the typical American graduation everyone gets a cap and gown, they dress up nice even though the gown will cover it, and sit in rows in front of a stage. There's a commencement speech, Valedictorian speech, and at some schools even speeches in different languages to basically congratulate everyone - my school had multiples of each English, Spanish, Samoan (not sure on the language), and Tagalog. Names are called and each student walks up to shake the principal's hand and receive their diploma and walks back to their seat. When it's over there are words of congratulations and then everyone exits one by one. Sometimes these last a few hours.

There are also traditions for graduates based on ethnicity. Native graduates typically wear an eagle feather on their cap. My school barred cap and/or gown decoration (the Samoans decorated the back of their gowns, and I'm not sure if this was tradition or just to show pride so you'd have to research that) so I was not allowed to wear mine. If you google that you'll get a ton of articles which students decided to go after their schools on ground of discrimination and even students saying fuck it and wearing their feathers anyways. I wish I had been one of them. I don't know how detailed you wanted to be so I hope this helps.

OH and there's also sash? and cords that can be worn and since my school had different academies for career paths we each had different color sash to wear.