Anonymous
Post 04/30/2023 18:32     Subject: Why is our graduation at Eagle Bank???!!!
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I'm still laughing at "mediocre". I mean, this isn't the Oscars. And I'm gonna manage your expectations; college, which you pay an arm and a leg for isn't much better. At UMCP, my major graduated in the Armory. We were jealous of those in the chapel up the hill; but were also thankful we weren't in the field house where it smelled like they dumped chlorine in the indoor pool the day before graduation. In the grand scheme of things, this is so stupid. And like another poster said, I keep coming back for the lolz.


OP Here- My DD will be graduating college on the Lawn at UVA, not in some arena built in the 80s. EagleBank is where kids from schools like Robinson graduate. Rundown, old dilapidated part of the county full of strip malls, panhandlers, and dated neighborhoods


Wow - you're a real charmer! Enjoy the blazing heat of a sweaty graduation outside at UVA.
Anonymous
Post 04/30/2023 18:29     Subject: Re:Why is our graduation at Eagle Bank???!!!
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Only the top high schools get DAR as their graduation venue. McLean, Langley, Madison, Marshall.

Eagle Bank is for the riffraff.


DAR is the worst. We are at one of those schools and I’m hoping they change by the time by younger kids are seniors. It’s a hassle to get to DC, seats are limited, parking is horrible.


Don’t park. Take a Lift there and then you can lift home(yes, it does take about 30-40 minutes to get one, but you enjoy your surroundings while you wait.). Or you can take metro. Or Lift down and get a neighbor with a junior to pick you up and then do the same for them next year. NBD.


As others have pointed out, that’s fine if it’d just us. It’s another huge hassle with elderly grandparents who want to be there and are frail and then deciding who gets the golden tickets since seats are limited.


DP. Not sure what you're complaining about. Plenty of families don't need all their tickets, so you can request extras on your school's FB page. We also had frail, elderly grandparents with us. We took a large, air-conditioned SUV uber and everyone was perfectly comfortable. We were all dropped off right at the door. Any other non-issue you'd like to whine about?
Anonymous
Post 04/30/2023 18:26     Subject: Why is our graduation at Eagle Bank???!!!
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Are you kidding? We are in APS and we have to go to DAR... Each family gets 4 tickets ONLY due to size constraints. That leaves no room for grandparents or siblings if you have more than 3 kids (yes these families exist!) At least at Eagle Bank you have unlimited seating and parking!


We never had trouble finding an extra ticket.


We're in FCPS and got six tickets/family - maybe it depends on the size of the graduating class. We didn't need one ticket, so we gave it to another family.
Anonymous
Post 04/30/2023 18:24     Subject: Re:Why is our graduation at Eagle Bank???!!!
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Only the top high schools get DAR as their graduation venue. McLean, Langley, Madison, Marshall.

Eagle Bank is for the riffraff.


DAR is the worst. We are at one of those schools and I’m hoping they change by the time by younger kids are seniors. It’s a hassle to get to DC, seats are limited, parking is horrible.


Don’t park. Take a Lift there and then you can lift home(yes, it does take about 30-40 minutes to get one, but you enjoy your surroundings while you wait.). Or you can take metro. Or Lift down and get a neighbor with a junior to pick you up and then do the same for them next year. NBD.


+1
We parked at the school and Ubered to DAR and back to the school.
Anonymous
Post 04/30/2023 18:23     Subject: Re:Why is our graduation at Eagle Bank???!!!
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:If OP’s kid’s graduation was at DAR, then the post would read:

Why is our graduation at DAR???!!!

Seriously? We have to scope to ANOTHER state, fight traffic & crime and LIMITED seating?! Why can’t our venue be to perfectly fine GMU arena with ample parking and seating? WHY ??!?


Exactly. This is what we see every year from a few disgruntled parents who can't cope with the idea of DAR. They'd rather have a football field graduation in the blazing hot sun.


The rich kid schools getting together to book DAR, families at kids attending other schools should just accept that rich schools are more equal


Why don't you lobby for your school to get together with other schools and book DAR? What's stopping you?
Anonymous
Post 04/30/2023 18:20     Subject: Re:Why is our graduation at Eagle Bank???!!!
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Only the top high schools get DAR as their graduation venue. McLean, Langley, Madison, Marshall.

Eagle Bank is for the riffraff.


Nice trolling, but no. Those four schools got together and agreed to share a day at DAR. You need four schools per day there for the time slots. If four other schools did the same thing, they could also graduate at DAR.
DP


A quick check would have told you these four schools are not all graduating on the same day.


Hmm, you're right - looks like there are two graduations per day at DAR and those four schools are graduating on two consecutive days (6/6/-6-7). There is no conspiracy theory afoot, if that's what you're implying.
Anonymous
Post 04/30/2023 17:31     Subject: Why is our graduation at Eagle Bank???!!!
This is the list:

https://www.fcps.edu/graduation

Annandale and FHS will hold the on site graduation ceremony.

TJ goes to EagleBank.
Anonymous
Post 04/30/2023 14:52     Subject: Re:Why is our graduation at Eagle Bank???!!!
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Only the top high schools get DAR as their graduation venue. McLean, Langley, Madison, Marshall.

Eagle Bank is for the riffraff.


It’s because of proximity. Those four FCPS schools happen to be closest to DAR. Arlington also does DAR.


The closest FCPS high school to DAR is Justice, followed by Langley and West Potomac. McLean, Marshall, and Falls Church are then all about the same distance. Madison is further away from DAR than those six schools, as well as Edison and Lewis.

These four schools graduate at DAR because of relative proximity, tradition, and no one having decided it would be too inconvenient for a significant number of guests. But they aren't the closest.
Anonymous
Post 04/30/2023 14:39     Subject: Re:Why is our graduation at Eagle Bank???!!!
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Only the top high schools get DAR as their graduation venue. McLean, Langley, Madison, Marshall.

Eagle Bank is for the riffraff.


Nice trolling, but no. Those four schools got together and agreed to share a day at DAR. You need four schools per day there for the time slots. If four other schools did the same thing, they could also graduate at DAR.
DP


Arlington only has three high schools, but they manage to do the DAR graduations on the same day. Arlington does it there because it’s the closest large venue.


Actually, there’s a movement to change this. Many APS parents are tired of the hassle with not having enough tickets for their family so working to hopefully change the venue in the next 3 to 4 years.
Anonymous
Post 04/30/2023 14:35     Subject: Re:Why is our graduation at Eagle Bank???!!!
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Only the top high schools get DAR as their graduation venue. McLean, Langley, Madison, Marshall.

Eagle Bank is for the riffraff.


Nice trolling, but no. Those four schools got together and agreed to share a day at DAR. You need four schools per day there for the time slots. If four other schools did the same thing, they could also graduate at DAR.
DP


Arlington only has three high schools, but they manage to do the DAR graduations on the same day. Arlington does it there because it’s the closest large venue.
Anonymous
Post 04/30/2023 14:12     Subject: Re:Why is our graduation at Eagle Bank???!!!
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Some of the high schools are pushing 3000 students.

According to the locals, FCPS switched to GMU and other indoor venues sometime in the early 90s when a torrential thunderstorm/hail/tornado warnings occured in the middle of graduation night ceremonies.

Everyone had to run for cover inside the school.


They put grads in the gym and everyone else in various locations inside and tried to finish using the PA system.

Then the power went out

My long time resident neighbors said after that disaster, fcps switched to indoor venue graduations.

They do the same thing in the midwest city that I grew up in. Same reasons of an unfortunate spring tornado warning and hail hitting in the middle of graduation ceremonies.

The graduations of small schools are in their respective schools.

Graduations of all the large schools are at the convention center.


WSHS, Class of 1989!

It was a mess.


Yes most all the local public high schools had football stadium (or gym during rain storms) graduations until the 90s. The local public schools also hosted the nice graduation week Baccalaureate services for seniors and their families held in a local church, but I think that was phased out in the 90s, for obvious reasons. Graduation week was full of events in the olden days.


Our FCPS high school still holds a Baccalaureate - they call it an Interfaith ceremony and it is the evening before graduation at the closest church to the school, which happens to be a Catholic church. It is completely optional. We went to it five years ago when my oldest graduated and I plan to attend this year's as well.

This is our first year since the mid 70s that the high school is graduating away from the school. It's at Eagle Bank Arena. We have one of the largest gyms in the county so graduation has been held in the gym - tickets were limited and there were always parents who complained. I'd prefer it at the school since we're walking distance and we don't need more tickets than each family was given - I think we got 6 when my oldest graduated and we were able to give two of them to another family. Eagle Bank will be more comfortable - individual seats instead of sitting on bleachers without backs.
Anonymous
Post 04/30/2023 14:02     Subject: Re:Why is our graduation at Eagle Bank???!!!
Huh? So much room there were no tickets required. Stellar A/C on one of the hottest days of the spring. Plenty of restrooms for young children. Vendors open for snacks. Incredible amount of parking. Accessible for people with disabilities. On a rather lovely campus.

Sure the venue isn’t exactly pretty but I thought Eagle Bank was perfect.
Anonymous
Post 04/30/2023 13:44     Subject: Why is our graduation at Eagle Bank???!!!
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I'm still laughing at "mediocre". I mean, this isn't the Oscars. And I'm gonna manage your expectations; college, which you pay an arm and a leg for isn't much better. At UMCP, my major graduated in the Armory. We were jealous of those in the chapel up the hill; but were also thankful we weren't in the field house where it smelled like they dumped chlorine in the indoor pool the day before graduation. In the grand scheme of things, this is so stupid. And like another poster said, I keep coming back for the lolz.


OP Here- My DD will be graduating college on the Lawn at UVA, not in some arena built in the 80s. EagleBank is where kids from schools like Robinson graduate. Rundown, old dilapidated part of the county full of strip malls, panhandlers, and dated neighborhoods


You do realize that many of your DD’s graduating class on the Lawn grew up in that “rundown old dilapidated” part of the county. They went to schools like Robinson and Lake Braddock and West Springfield and graduated at Eagle Bank. Yet they’re still standing right beside her at UVA. We can all hope your DD isn’t nearly as judgmental as you seem to be.
Anonymous
Post 04/30/2023 13:23     Subject: Why is our graduation at Eagle Bank???!!!
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I'm still laughing at "mediocre". I mean, this isn't the Oscars. And I'm gonna manage your expectations; college, which you pay an arm and a leg for isn't much better. At UMCP, my major graduated in the Armory. We were jealous of those in the chapel up the hill; but were also thankful we weren't in the field house where it smelled like they dumped chlorine in the indoor pool the day before graduation. In the grand scheme of things, this is so stupid. And like another poster said, I keep coming back for the lolz.


OP Here- My DD will be graduating college on the Lawn at UVA, not in some arena built in the 80s. EagleBank is where kids from schools like Robinson graduate. Rundown, old dilapidated part of the county full of strip malls, panhandlers, and dated neighborhoods


Troll
Anonymous
Post 04/30/2023 13:22     Subject: Re:Why is our graduation at Eagle Bank???!!!
For kids at high schools like Justice, Annandale, Falls Church and Edison, it will be their last time participating in a graduation.