By: Min Qiao <[email protected]>

On Wednesday, this school will conduct an all-school convocation honoring the graduating class.

According to Student body president and senior Dan Frascella, the ceremony will be held down at the football stadium and it will serve as a goodbye-service to the seniors.

The new addition of Class Day to this year’s long list of changes ushers in an innovative tradition in the usual graduation process. It will give seniors half a day off following dismissal of Class Day, opposed to the previous graduation schedule.

“(Principal John) Williams and a lot of the administration and I think students too, all agree that we’ve never really done a good job of saying goodbye to our seniors. It was just, like, the last day of school, everybody graduates and a lot of the accomplishments of the senior class go unrecognized,” Frascella said. “There was generally not a big emphasis on the Senior Class.”

Speaker of the House and senior David Joest said that Senior Class Day was a popular tradition at Principal Williams’ old school in Evansville and it is something that Williams has been wanting to bring to CHS for quite a while.

“The timing was just right. We had just moved commencement (from Verizon Wireless Music Center to Pepsi Coliseum) and we’d actually been having the discussions about doing something like this for two to three years.” Williams said. “We had always felt uncomfortable with how we ended the year with our seniors. It wasn’t right for them to just stop coming to school. We should really honor all their accomplishments and the legacy they’re leaving behind. What better class than this one to have this farewell.”

Frascella said that the Senior Class Day is a graduation ceremony geared toward students. In the past, students and parents were a part of the celebration. Class Day will focus on recognizing all of the seniors who are moving on to the next step.

Instead of reading the names of all the seniors, they are going to recognize some of the big scholarship winners and also some of the things that the senior class has accomplished, including State championships.

“We are going to hear from some senior leaders like class president, myself and David Joest,” Frascella said. “There is going to be some student speeches, some recognition for special accomplishments. There is going to be a ceremonial changing of the guards. The seniors will leave their seats on the football field and then the juniors will take their (places) to symbolize the changing of the classes.”

According to Frascella, however, some individuals are still a little skeptical about the upcoming Class Day event.

He added, “Also, it will be good for the seniors because they will finally get some recognition for what they’ve done and all the work that they’ve put in these four years.”

Williams said, “It probably would have been easier to not do anything, but all the great traditions at our school took a lot of hard work and overcoming a set of problems.”

Joest said he agrees with this sentiment and said he also believes that senior class day will be a tradition that will last for years to come.

“We’re all just holding our breath right now. It’s not like we’re reinventing the wheel here because many high schools do something like this, but it’s new for us, and it can be difficult to adjust to change sometimes.” Williams said.

“It’s a pretty cool event for the school,” Joest said. “I would hope that it would bring the school together one last time before the Class of 2008 departs for wherever each student is headed.”