Seniors obtain even playing field to speak for their class
Graduation speech auditions will be held Tuesday April 18 and Thursday April 20. The speeches will be graded by the graduation committee, a collection of administrators who plan graduation. The rubric for grading includes a purpose, proper tone for occasion, structure, pacing, and clarity. Applications can be found in the office, in student services, where you can also find an application to sing at graduation. Requirements are similar to speeches. “There are tons of students on our campus with skills and strengths in other areas beyond academics,” assistant principal Tiffany Dyer said.
March 21, 2023
June 14. The class of 2023 will fill the football stadium, to celebrate their collective hard work and earn their high school diplomas. This time, all seniors will be on the same playing field. With a near unanimous vote between the entire faculty it was decided that, for the foreseen future, the valedictorian will have to audition to give a speech at graduation.
Under the previous administration led by principal Bobbi Powers, the valedictorian was required to give a speech at graduation, but some noticed that this was not a functioning process as not all valedictorians wanted to give a speech.
“There were actually multiple people who were part of the graduation planning process, come to me and ask if we could re-evaluate that [Valedictorians speaking at graduation],” assistant principal Tiffany Dyer said.
Last year, the speeches caused some frustration among students. Administration announced that instead of the valedictorian being a shoe-in speaker, the valedictorian would have to apply and audition like the rest of the senior class. Students were disappointed as they felt the valedictorian earned the privilege to speak at graduation. After communication between administration, students and the graduation committee, the valedictorian was allowed to speak at the class of 2022 graduation ceremony.
Changing the speech process was a choice made in effort to extend the opportunity to a wider variety of seniors that want to speak at graduation, in addition to those that rank at the top of their class.
“The other thing we as a staff decided to also change this year, was honestly make it more open and more available to more people on campus,” Dyer said. “so that there is a wide variety of voices potentially involved at graduation.”
To help expand the opportunity to all seniors, a collaborative decision was made between administration and the English department to have all seniors, including special needs and advanced placement courses, write a graduation speech to be assessed with the same rubric they use at auditions.
As graduation slowly approaches, the Valedictorian and the Salutatorian have been announced. Salutatorian is Amber Gale, and the title of Valedictorian has been earned by Joshua Alcantar, who has the opportunity to speak at the Senior Award Ceremony June 7.
“I am potentially open to have him [Joshua Alcantar] be a part of graduation as well,” Dyer said, “Similar to how the ASB president is able to sit on the stage and overall be involved in some part of the ceremony.”
Graduation will still look the same as the classes prior to 2023, the changes will not affect many and will give more students the chance to speak for their classmates and represent their generation.
“The idea is we want to open up the opportunity, so lots of students have the ability to be that speaker and represent their graduating class,” Dyer said.
