Anyone else disappointed about graduation?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UMBC is not in Baltimore, it’s in Baltimore County. It’s not even that close to Baltimore.

MCPS will no longer pay for UMCP because it’s too expensive and there are no other venues large enough to host students and family members. Earlier poster with mentioning the $30k price tag for holding graduation at school on football field is correct, and you have to worry about rain.

There is no place to have lunch around the UMBC campus. Come back home and go to a favorite restaurant.

UMBC does have a nice campus with ample parking and a nice arena. And for most of us, it requires the same amount of travel time as going into downtown DC.

DC has nice lunch places around and feels more special

Nothing in DC feels special. You just want to get to DAR and get the hell out of DC ASAP and as fast as possible.

You need to chill. DC is a lovely city. Taking graduation pictures by the monuments and reflecting pool is priceless

Not this year, but for next - Everyone will be thanking whomever decided on UMBC when/if a different man is president in Jan '25. Who wants to take a picture in front of the white house then!?

[Anonymous]

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?

Event should have stayed in MoCo. Maybe Elrich needs to start working on trying to get a large enough venue for county's HS commencement ceremonies, instead of all these unnecessary high rise condos. Build in Poolesville or Damascus.

[Anonymous]

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?

Event should have stayed in MoCo. Maybe Elrich needs to start working on trying to get a large enough venue for county's HS commencement ceremonies, instead of all these unnecessary high rise condos. Build in Poolesville or Damascus.

For many people in MoCo, it's a quicker drive to UMBC than to either Poolesville or Damascus.

[Anonymous]

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?

Disappointed. Pollution increase when seniors from the 23 HS + guests drive to BalCo. Doesn't make sense for a county working on green deal initiatives.

[Anonymous]

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?

Disappointed. Pollution increase when seniors from the 23 HS + guests drive to BalCo. Doesn't make sense for a county working on green deal initiatives.

Fourteen of the HS graduations are being held at UMBC, not 23.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We’re going to suck it up and go, expecting the worst, and having gratitude that it will be the last time that we will have to deal with MCPS.

Us too. We will just go and hope they have a halfway decent speaker, unlike last year, which was just an embarrassment

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Boy people really lit into me. Clearly I can get up and clearly I’m not saying a word of complaint to the HS but am I not entitled to my feelings that this feels like a schlep for someplace that just feels sort of random and institutional?
I was wondering if I was the only one and o guess I have my answer — I am the only one! I’m still trying to figure out a way to make this special for kid. We have a couple members of our family who are dying right now so won’t be able to invite any family really.

No you are not the only one. Quite a few kids didn’t even show up last year when grad was held at my kid’s school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My class of '23 kid had a graduation at UMBC, and it was a great facility. It's not like our home high school has an auditorium large enough for an event like this!

We were lucky that our class of '21 kid had a graduation ceremony at all. That one was at the school's football field, which was great in its own way because the location was convenient and familiar. Plus we lucked out on the weather. (The next year's graduation outside was very hot and sunny.) Where we didn't luck out was that graduation coincided with the Brood X cicadas, which were flying around and landing on the graduates as they sat on the field.

We thought of that as entertainment while we were waiting for the speakers to finish and our kid's name to get called. They were loud, though.

Wow. Entertainment. 🙄 This is the type of thinking that allows MoCo schools to race to the bottom.

[Anonymous]

Unnecessary to venture all the way to Baltimore County. Aren't there large farms that would be willing to let MCPS hold ceremonies there - how about Butlers? Yes right during strawberry season, pick and snack during the "entertaining" ceremonies!

[Anonymous]

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?

Disappointed. Pollution increase when seniors from the 23 HS + guests drive to BalCo. Doesn't make sense for a county working on green deal initiatives.

Many people commute that route every single day! Also your school probably offers bus transportation (since not every one has a car) so you can take that option.

[Anonymous]

I'm thrilled ours is at Constitution Hall. Can I wear my DAR pins?

[Anonymous]

Went to a graduation at umbc last year. It was so easy compared to DAR. No traffic, parking was a breeze.

[Anonymous]

I'm a teacher who hates graduations. I thought the ones at the school were sort of nice and felt like personal being in the familiar place. I'm dreading Baltimore.

[Anonymous]

Wow, so much negativity on this thread about something that's supposed to be celebratory. Sad...

[Anonymous]

Teachers must be annoyed having to go all the way to Baltimore