Graduation 2026

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Cringiest was a couple of teachers who had no students graduating in the ceremony hanging out outside the arena, a little too close to the families trying to take photos. It was very odd, sus and relatives were weirded out. Ick.

Teachers are required to attend. Before the ceremony the kids have to line up and be in a specific area so there often isn’t anything for all the staff to do. So they may hang out outside before they need to be at their assigned location. I’m not sure what was odd or sus about their behavior.

[Anonymous]

How strict are they at the venue about bringing in a water bottle and is the line long at security. Traveling with older guests so would like to know. Thank you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Cringiest was a couple of teachers who had no students graduating in the ceremony hanging out outside the arena, a little too close to the families trying to take photos. It was very odd, sus and relatives were weirded out. Ick.

Your reaction to this is bizarre.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Natali Fani-Gonzalez did a terrible speech at Northwood’s graduation. Blatantly political and deceptive. Why are these folk allowed to speak

Because Northwood invited her there to speak.

She talked about the budget but never even brought up the cuts and all the jobs being lost. Instead she said they are cutting taxes on low income families and that she is the biggest champion of families making less than 150k

Wow. This is so inappropriate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How strict are they at the venue about bringing in a water bottle and is the line long at security. Traveling with older guests so would like to know. Thank you.

You should be fine while standing in the long line, but will have to toss it before going through security. Then you can buy overpriced concessions inside.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How strict are they at the venue about bringing in a water bottle and is the line long at security. Traveling with older guests so would like to know. Thank you.

In my experience, they were not strict at all. I had a clear purse, full of snacks, water, and even protein shakes (I was the holder for the family), and they didn’t even look twice.

[Anonymous]

Does anybody know how many graduation tickets Rockville high school got per person?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anybody know how many graduation tickets Rockville high school got per person?

I'm going to assume it's 10 tickets. I don't know how it's like for this year's graduation, but when my son graduated from RHS in 2024 at UMBC (first time it was done there) each student was allowed to bring 10 guests, so that is 10 tickets. RHS is a very small school compared to it's neighbors so I think the amount of tickets will be larger.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do all the high schools get a two hour block? WJ graduates more kids than most mcps high schools.

Do they? QO had almost 500 grads. How many at WJ?

Over 750

Did people have to listen to almost 800 names being called out? That sounds horrible

Yes, it took about 1:10.

The whole thing was over 2h, but there wasn't another ceremony following WJ.

Traffic in/out of parking was bad. I hated that we had to travel to UMBC, but the venue and ceremony were nicer than I expected.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Natali Fani-Gonzalez did a terrible speech at Northwood’s graduation. Blatantly political and deceptive. Why are these folk allowed to speak

No. She was great. She was political and for that audience- it was validating and appropriate. Trump is terrorizing immigrant communities. Sorry not sorry their lived experience makes you uncomfortable. And she flamed Taylor for his whining about the CC not funding the MCPS budget. She reminded him (turning to look at him) that they gave them more money than last year. Her speech was about not letting others stop you from reaching your goals, honoring your convictions and being brave by speaking your truth. Watching her speak was the perfect example of what that looks like. She was authentic and inspirational.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Natali Fani-Gonzalez did a terrible speech at Northwood’s graduation. Blatantly political and deceptive. Why are these folk allowed to speak

No. She was great. She was political and for that audience- it was validating and appropriate. Trump is terrorizing immigrant communities. Sorry not sorry their lived experience makes you uncomfortable. And she flamed Taylor for his whining about the CC not funding the MCPS budget. She reminded him (turning to look at him) that they gave them more money than last year. Her speech was about not letting others stop you from reaching your goals, honoring your convictions and being brave by speaking your truth. Watching her speak was the perfect example of what that looks like. She was authentic and inspirational.

Not appropiate for a graduation. Make it about the students.

[Anonymous]

Too far away, 9 am time slot guarantees traffic on 95, too crowded. UMBC should not be used for the larger schools. Too small.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Natali Fani-Gonzalez did a terrible speech at Northwood’s graduation. Blatantly political and deceptive. Why are these folk allowed to speak

No. She was great. She was political and for that audience- it was validating and appropriate. Trump is terrorizing immigrant communities. Sorry not sorry their lived experience makes you uncomfortable. And she flamed Taylor for his whining about the CC not funding the MCPS budget. She reminded him (turning to look at him) that they gave them more money than last year. Her speech was about not letting others stop you from reaching your goals, honoring your convictions and being brave by speaking your truth. Watching her speak was the perfect example of what that looks like. She was authentic and inspirational.

Not appropiate for a graduation. Make it about the students.

+1

Why is her speech even trying to focus on the funding with MCPS? FFS, this is literally a high school celebration where you are suppose to celebrate a milestone that your kid is experiencing. And plus, I guarantee to you, none of the students would even care a single bit anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Natali Fani-Gonzalez did a terrible speech at Northwood’s graduation. Blatantly political and deceptive. Why are these folk allowed to speak

No. She was great. She was political and for that audience- it was validating and appropriate. Trump is terrorizing immigrant communities. Sorry not sorry their lived experience makes you uncomfortable. And she flamed Taylor for his whining about the CC not funding the MCPS budget. She reminded him (turning to look at him) that they gave them more money than last year. Her speech was about not letting others stop you from reaching your goals, honoring your convictions and being brave by speaking your truth. Watching her speak was the perfect example of what that looks like. She was authentic and inspirational.

Not appropiate for a graduation. Make it about the students.

+1

Why is her speech even trying to focus on the funding with MCPS? FFS, this is literally a high school celebration where you are suppose to celebrate a milestone that your kid is experiencing. And plus, I guarantee to you, none of the students would even care a single bit anyway.

She modeled for them everything she preached. It was perfect. They are smart enough to understand that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Natali Fani-Gonzalez did a terrible speech at Northwood’s graduation. Blatantly political and deceptive. Why are these folk allowed to speak

No. She was great. She was political and for that audience- it was validating and appropriate. Trump is terrorizing immigrant communities. Sorry not sorry their lived experience makes you uncomfortable. And she flamed Taylor for his whining about the CC not funding the MCPS budget. She reminded him (turning to look at him) that they gave them more money than last year. Her speech was about not letting others stop you from reaching your goals, honoring your convictions and being brave by speaking your truth. Watching her speak was the perfect example of what that looks like. She was authentic and inspirational.

Not appropiate for a graduation. Make it about the students.

It was about the students. You didn’t listen to the speech. She called them to action.