Sorry if the question might seem dumb, I'm from Africa and I'm not quite sure how graduation works in America--this information is vital for a story I'm writing. I just need to know if seniors have their graduation ceremony on the day which is also the last day of school for the other lower-rank high schoolers(freshmen, sophomores), or is it really or later than the last day of school for the other high schoolers? Please and thank you.
I would imagine it would depend on the school. My daughter graduated from a U.S. public High School in the Midwest two years ago, and her last class was a few days before graduation day.
My school let seniors graduate a week or two before the rest of the student finished the years and they stopped coming at that point.
I live in the Eastern part of the U.S. My oldest graduated a few years ago, and my youngest is due to graduate in a few years. I also worked in a high school for many years. Graduation for Seniors had traditionally been before the last day of school for the lower class (Freshmen - Juniors). Seniors had their last day of school around a week before the rest of the students. Then their graduation would be held before the last day of school. Honestly, I believe this set up was to ensure faculty attended. Of course some faculty is mandatory to attended, however the purpose is to have as much as possible recognize this day. Once the last day of school happens, people usually run for the hills to start summer break. Plus, there is a lot that goes into setting up graduation, the stage, the chairs, the decoration, etc. Having it done before all of school officially lets out kind of forces an all hands on deck sort of help.
Graduation for us. After that it was studying for finals, though those could all be waived if you made the required grades (an A and three absences, a B and two, or a C and three). If you waived all of them you didn't have to show up the last two days, but otherwise we were still expected to be there after graduation.
Huh. At my high school it was a couple weeks after the end of classes, IIRC. I assumed this was because you actually had to finish (and pass) all your classes before the school could be sure you were supposed to graduate. But I guess plenty of other places do it differently. As with everything education-related in America, each one of the however many thousands of school districts probably does things at least slightly differently...
When I needed to know for one of my characters who lives in New York, I used these, then adjusted the date for the year I needed so that graduation day was on a Saturday. http://schools.nyc.gov/NR/rdonlyres/C40F6F4F-F845-4643-97B4-030AE2F5CE1D/0/201718SchoolYearCalendar.pdf http://schools.nyc.gov/Calendar/default.htm In some school systems in places that get a lot of snow, sometimes it depends on how many days a school was closed due to snow. If the schools go over the predicted amount of snow days already factored into the calendar, the school year is extended later than originally planned so students can get all the work done. That happened a couple of times when I was a kid in the Midwest.
My graduation ceremony will be about a week after my last day of school. Also, seniors at my school get out about two weeks before the rest of the school.
I think I remember last year still seeing a few seniors in the hallways after they left. I don't know if they had to finish work or if they were just bored and wanted to go. If they were doing anything other than finishing schoolwork, I would question why they would want to come.
At many, if not most, schools in the US, any visitors to campus are required to sign in at the office with photo ID.
