Anonymous
Post 03/14/2026 05:39     Subject: HS graduation at 6pm at UMBC? What about dinner?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:LOL they won't change the time so you can eat.

It's not just me. I can always take a snack, but the kids can't. They have to get there an hour earlier (I believe). And given that this is peak traffic time, they have to leave here by 4. It's the kids I'm worried about most.


"Kids"? You mean the 18yo who are going off to college? Have them put a protein bar in their pocket/purse. They will not die from hunger.


A girl almost passed out from low BS when DS graduated. Her friends were holding her up. It was difficult for teachers to reach her.



Unless she was diabetic and on medication, that didn’t happen. The body is very good at going long periods without food. Younger people especially have metabolic flexibility to switch to ketosis, and not eating for 8 hours isn’t ever going to cause low blood sugar unless there is a major underlying health condition.
Anonymous
Post 03/14/2026 00:58     Subject: HS graduation at 6pm at UMBC? What about dinner?
They can pick up CFA on the way. Good lord OP, they are adults going off to college.
Anonymous
Post 03/13/2026 22:59     Subject: HS graduation at 6pm at UMBC? What about dinner?
It's one day. graduation ceremony is optional, no?
Anonymous
Post 03/12/2026 18:05     Subject: HS graduation at 6pm at UMBC? What about dinner?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:LOL they won't change the time so you can eat.

It's not just me. I can always take a snack, but the kids can't. They have to get there an hour earlier (I believe). And given that this is peak traffic time, they have to leave here by 4. It's the kids I'm worried about most.


"Kids"? You mean the 18yo who are going off to college? Have them put a protein bar in their pocket/purse. They will not die from hunger.


A girl almost passed out from low BS when DS graduated. Her friends were holding her up. It was difficult for teachers to reach her.

Anyone could get shaky from low blood sugar, but I sure hope they have medical exceptions for diabetics to bring snacks and meds.
Anonymous
Post 03/12/2026 17:35     Subject: HS graduation at 6pm at UMBC? What about dinner?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:LOL they won't change the time so you can eat.

It's not just me. I can always take a snack, but the kids can't. They have to get there an hour earlier (I believe). And given that this is peak traffic time, they have to leave here by 4. It's the kids I'm worried about most.


"Kids"? You mean the 18yo who are going off to college? Have them put a protein bar in their pocket/purse. They will not die from hunger.


A girl almost passed out from low BS when DS graduated. Her friends were holding her up. It was difficult for teachers to reach her.
Anonymous
Post 03/12/2026 12:16     Subject: HS graduation at 6pm at UMBC? What about dinner?
Anonymous wrote:Wait till you deal with college graduations!


Depends on the college graduation. My speaker was Anne Richard (the former Texas governor). She was insanely hilarious. I remember one story she was telling about the state legislature considering some sort of anti-gay legislation, possibly involving sodomy, and she remarked something like -- it's the texas legislature, so we're pretty used to a d** meeting an a**hole there. No one slept through that speech!
Anonymous
Post 03/12/2026 11:15     Subject: HS graduation at 6pm at UMBC? What about dinner?
Wait till you deal with college graduations!
Anonymous
Post 03/12/2026 10:33     Subject: HS graduation at 6pm at UMBC? What about dinner?
Anonymous wrote:People will give OP endless crap, but I just want to give them some empathy. I was really shocked at how inconvenient and painful the whole graduation process was. We had the early slot and my kid had to leave at like 6 am and fight through rush hour traffic to get there, and they were strictly warned that they would not be able to leave the lineup to get a drink or use the bathroom. (It turned out that, like everything else, there was no real enforcement of that, but for the type A kids, it just made them really stressed about not eating or drinking anything in advance, in case they had to pee during the one hour line up.) There are good things and bad things about MCPS but the massive impersonalized bureaucracy of it all, where you sometimes feel like a widget on a conveyer belt, is the worst of it. I felt like graduation was the final capstone for that aspect of the education.

I went to public school in the 80s, and it wasn't all a bed of roses, but I did feel like our graduation was much more personal and relaxed. It wasn't like "move it along -- we have another crowd of 10,000 coming in 45 minutes!". Also, I don't remember having a bunch of politicians speak at my own graduation...that part was so painfully boring. There were at least two politicians (I guess they always send someone from the Board of Ed?).

Yes!!

This is not my first rodeo with MCPS graduation. DC#1 graduated a few years ago, but our time slot then was like 2pm. Even then, it started late because the school before us took forever to get out. And DC#1 didn't have to arrive *that* much earlier than my DC#2. So, DC#1 didn't need a snack or a water bottle because we finished before 6. We hand lunch at 11:30 nearby. I thought that girls could not take a purse.

The speaker was really really boring. I saw DC with their head down, and I texted them asking if they were ok? Were they feeling ill or something? No, they said. They were just really bored.

Anonymous
Post 03/11/2026 23:12     Subject: HS graduation at 6pm at UMBC? What about dinner?
People will give OP endless crap, but I just want to give them some empathy. I was really shocked at how inconvenient and painful the whole graduation process was. We had the early slot and my kid had to leave at like 6 am and fight through rush hour traffic to get there, and they were strictly warned that they would not be able to leave the lineup to get a drink or use the bathroom. (It turned out that, like everything else, there was no real enforcement of that, but for the type A kids, it just made them really stressed about not eating or drinking anything in advance, in case they had to pee during the one hour line up.) There are good things and bad things about MCPS but the massive impersonalized bureaucracy of it all, where you sometimes feel like a widget on a conveyer belt, is the worst of it. I felt like graduation was the final capstone for that aspect of the education.

I went to public school in the 80s, and it wasn't all a bed of roses, but I did feel like our graduation was much more personal and relaxed. It wasn't like "move it along -- we have another crowd of 10,000 coming in 45 minutes!". Also, I don't remember having a bunch of politicians speak at my own graduation...that part was so painfully boring. There were at least two politicians (I guess they always send someone from the Board of Ed?).
Anonymous
Post 03/11/2026 09:37     Subject: HS graduation at 6pm at UMBC? What about dinner?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:LOL they won't change the time so you can eat.

It's not just me. I can always take a snack, but the kids can't. They have to get there an hour earlier (I believe). And given that this is peak traffic time, they have to leave here by 4. It's the kids I'm worried about most.


Of course the kids can take a snack in their car and eat it when they arrive.
Anonymous
Post 03/11/2026 09:34     Subject: HS graduation at 6pm at UMBC? What about dinner?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:LOL they won't change the time so you can eat.

It's not just me. I can always take a snack, but the kids can't. They have to get there an hour earlier (I believe). And given that this is peak traffic time, they have to leave here by 4. It's the kids I'm worried about most.


"Kids"? You mean the 18yo who are going off to college? Have them put a protein bar in their pocket/purse. They will not die from hunger.

I didn't think they were allowed to take a purse, or a water bottle.

My kid gets a headache if they get hungry, or dehydrated, which can turn into nausea.

If they can take a purse/water bottle, yes, that would solve the problem.


It sounds like this is not a timing issue but simply that the length of graduation does not work for your child. I would begin working with the school now to ensure you have appropriate medical documentation to get an accommodation. Or skip graduation.
Anonymous
Post 03/11/2026 08:56     Subject: HS graduation at 6pm at UMBC? What about dinner?
Concession stands were open. Get some popcorn like I need right now for this thread. Oh wait..that isn’t healthy like eating at 9:30 pm.
Anonymous
Post 03/10/2026 16:05     Subject: HS graduation at 6pm at UMBC? What about dinner?
Anonymous wrote:At least the grads don’t have school that day. Staff are working until 3p in Rockville and Gaithersburg and then need to be at UMBC by 5p. Guess we’ll eat in the car…


There is no school at Richard Montgomery on graduation day per the school calendar. What school do you work at that is requiring teaching all day and then graduation at 6 pm?
Anonymous
Post 03/10/2026 15:51     Subject: HS graduation at 6pm at UMBC? What about dinner?
At least the grads don’t have school that day. Staff are working until 3p in Rockville and Gaithersburg and then need to be at UMBC by 5p. Guess we’ll eat in the car…
Anonymous
Post 03/10/2026 15:33     Subject: HS graduation at 6pm at UMBC? What about dinner?
Treat it like Thanksgiving. Have an early break and then a large 1-3pm dinner. Then they can go out with their friends after.