by Miles Eller, staff writer
In the eyes of almost every student, the graduation ceremony for high school seniors marks the end of their high school careers, and should be considered the last day of high school. In reality, for Galileo seniors this year there is still a week of school they have to attend, despite already having their graduation ceremony in order to receive their diplomas.
The final week of school will consist of activities and entertainment for the departing seniors, consisting of a Senior Breakfast, Senior Barbecue, a “Chalk it up” activity, and finally, the distribution of diplomas on the final day of school.
The Senior Breakfast will take place on Wednesday, May 31st; the day after graduation. It will be held in the cafeteria from 10:30 to 12:30 and will be followed by the Senior barbecue the following day in the auditorium, paired with the Chalk it up activity where Seniors write messages in chalk across the courtyard as a final goodbye. The Senior will then get the diplomas they’ve been waiting for on that Friday in front of Counseling where boba will be given to them at 10:30am.
The reason for the required attendance after graduation is actually because of legal obligations from the school district that requires attendance to be at a certain level in the school year. “It’s mandatory to have attendance because schools in the past got audited for not having students come back to school. The events are mainly a way to get the attendance we need, but they are also ways to have a good send off for our seniors.” says Principal Avila.
Many seniors feel it is pointless to come back to school for the rest of the week when they could be starting their summers. Senior Madison G. says, “I feel like it’s unnecessary because we’ve done our dues and I just think, what’s the point if we’re not going to be learning anything, when I could be working or doing something awesome. We’ve been here for 4 years including Covid so I don’t really see the point of doing a seemingly pointless week.”
Other seniors feel that coming back to school after graduation will be a good send off. Miles Echavarri said “I think that doing school for another week after we’ve already had our big ceremony seems kind of anti-climactic because we go and officially graduate but then have to come back to school in like the next day or so. But it could be pretty cool to get some good goodbyes in with the final activities.”
