Anyone else disappointed about graduation?

[Anonymous]

UMBC is easier than Constitution Hall. I live in Bethesda and it’s only 45-50 minutes to UMBC. Most places in MoCo are probably closer. For DAR we had to allow tons of time for parking and walking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:UMBC is easier than Constitution Hall. I live in Bethesda and it’s only 45-50 minutes to UMBC. Most places in MoCo are probably closer. For DAR we had to allow tons of time for parking and walking.

For DAR I would have avoided the whole parking thing by taking Metro.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Speaking as someone whose kid graduated in 2020 and got a zoom graduation, go. We only have so many silly and not so silly rituals to celebrate with our children.

+1 we went last year to UMBC for RMHS. I was happy to be indoors, though the weather was pretty nice that day.

This is a rite of passage for American teens. IMO, you and your teen may regret it later. And I'm not one to be rah rah over every single childhood event.

[Anonymous]

I was like the OP, and it felt a little irate that we had to go downtown to the DAR during rush-hour traffic for our kid's graduation and don't get me started on the parking situation. That said once I was there, I enjoyed it. It was a big moment for my kid, a right of passage. We had a lovely lunch downtown afterwards to celebrate. Yes, it was a pain in the tush to go down there, but it was only one day and it was a fun day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My senior's graduation is at 9 a.m. on a Wednesday basically in Baltimore. None of us are excited to get up early and drive up to Baltimore for this impersonal graduation, and I don't even want to ask family to do this. My kid is already asking if they can just skip and sleep in. Is there a way to make this celebratory? Go to lunch afterwards?

You are right. The BOE cut an under the table deal to force MCPS families to Baltimore to promote the Baltimore campus. The graduation isn’t about your child, it is about administrators scratching each other’s backs. Your child can sense that this is not an event for them and they are right.

Promote the Baltimore campus? To kids who already have college plans set?? We were told it was just much cheaper than UMDCP.

Who told you that?

[Anonymous]

I would so much prefer constitution hall over ukbc …. Constitution hall is a famous landmark with history to it and DC feels more like part of our greater region than Baltimore does. It just feels so random to be going to this random campus is another city. I’d be fine going to someplace in MoCo or DC — it just seems so odd to be diving almost an hour to some random building in a totally different region.

Are people taking younger siblings out of school for this? The afternoon slot would be better as then they wouldn’t miss the whole day. Want them to be able to celebrate their older sibling hut not sure this is worth missing a day of school. And does anyone know of simple nice to go for lunch in the UMBC area? dC would be easier for me as I know that area well. I’ve literally never been up to the area near UMBC.

[Anonymous]

FYI, UMBC is really easy to get to. You just head north on 95 and it's right off the exit, with plentiful free parking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would so much prefer constitution hall over ukbc …. Constitution hall is a famous landmark with history to it and DC feels more like part of our greater region than Baltimore does. It just feels so random to be going to this random campus is another city. I’d be fine going to someplace in MoCo or DC — it just seems so odd to be diving almost an hour to some random building in a totally different region.

Are people taking younger siblings out of school for this? The afternoon slot would be better as then they wouldn’t miss the whole day. Want them to be able to celebrate their older sibling hut not sure this is worth missing a day of school. And does anyone know of simple nice to go for lunch in the UMBC area? dC would be easier for me as I know that area well. I’ve literally never been up to the area near UMBC.

Don't worry, PP. It's not a random building in a totally different region. It's the Chesapeake Arena at UMBC, which a lot of MCPS graduates will be attending in the fall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would so much prefer constitution hall over ukbc …. Constitution hall is a famous landmark with history to it and DC feels more like part of our greater region than Baltimore does. It just feels so random to be going to this random campus is another city. I’d be fine going to someplace in MoCo or DC — it just seems so odd to be diving almost an hour to some random building in a totally different region.

Are people taking younger siblings out of school for this? The afternoon slot would be better as then they wouldn’t miss the whole day. Want them to be able to celebrate their older sibling hut not sure this is worth missing a day of school. And does anyone know of simple nice to go for lunch in the UMBC area? dC would be easier for me as I know that area well. I’ve literally never been up to the area near UMBC.

Well look at that - your kid gets to graduate AND you get to explore an new area and expand your horizons all in one morning! Lucky you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would so much prefer constitution hall over ukbc …. Constitution hall is a famous landmark with history to it and DC feels more like part of our greater region than Baltimore does. It just feels so random to be going to this random campus is another city. I’d be fine going to someplace in MoCo or DC — it just seems so odd to be diving almost an hour to some random building in a totally different region.

Are people taking younger siblings out of school for this? The afternoon slot would be better as then they wouldn’t miss the whole day. Want them to be able to celebrate their older sibling hut not sure this is worth missing a day of school. And does anyone know of simple nice to go for lunch in the UMBC area? dC would be easier for me as I know that area well. I’ve literally never been up to the area near UMBC.

Well look at that - your kid gets to graduate AND you get to explore an new area and expand your horizons all in one morning! Lucky you!

You mean spend money in Baltimore which only benefits Baltimore. Which is the whole point of making MCPS parents drive up there. Revenue fir UMBC.

[Anonymous]

Walter Johnson? This is what we got last year at that school. Morning graduation at UMBC on a random weekday. We did not invite anyone outside of our nuclear family. Who on earth wants to come to a graduation anyway?!?

It was fine, OP. Very few kids actually skip their graduation, BTW. Ask him if he thinks he'll have any regrets later. I would lean towards going. You can have a nice lunch afterward.

[Anonymous]

Anyone know of any good celebratory lunch places not too far from UMBC?

[Anonymous]

Sometimes we’re asked to drive farther than we would like, earlier in the day than we’d like. If the high school senior doesn’t understand that, then hopefully a parent or older adult in their life will explain that to them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would so much prefer constitution hall over ukbc …. Constitution hall is a famous landmark with history to it and DC feels more like part of our greater region than Baltimore does. It just feels so random to be going to this random campus is another city. I’d be fine going to someplace in MoCo or DC — it just seems so odd to be diving almost an hour to some random building in a totally different region.

Are people taking younger siblings out of school for this? The afternoon slot would be better as then they wouldn’t miss the whole day. Want them to be able to celebrate their older sibling hut not sure this is worth missing a day of school. And does anyone know of simple nice to go for lunch in the UMBC area? dC would be easier for me as I know that area well. I’ve literally never been up to the area near UMBC.

Well look at that - your kid gets to graduate AND you get to explore an new area and expand your horizons all in one morning! Lucky you!

You mean spend money in Baltimore which only benefits Baltimore. Which is the whole point of making MCPS parents drive up there. Revenue fir UMBC.

Have your meal elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would so much prefer constitution hall over ukbc …. Constitution hall is a famous landmark with history to it and DC feels more like part of our greater region than Baltimore does. It just feels so random to be going to this random campus is another city. I’d be fine going to someplace in MoCo or DC — it just seems so odd to be diving almost an hour to some random building in a totally different region.

Are people taking younger siblings out of school for this? The afternoon slot would be better as then they wouldn’t miss the whole day. Want them to be able to celebrate their older sibling hut not sure this is worth missing a day of school. And does anyone know of simple nice to go for lunch in the UMBC area? dC would be easier for me as I know that area well. I’ve literally never been up to the area near UMBC.

Is the principal aware that you’ve never been near UMBC? Let them know. There might be enough time to change the location!