Graduation will be held at Niles West’s football stadium on Sunday, May 24. Traditionally held at Northwestern University, graduation will continue to be at Niles West from this year and on.
“It’s different. Graduation is at Niles West for the first time in a whole heck of long time,” assistant principal Mark Rigby said.
Holding graduation at Niles West changes a lot of things, including the number of tickets each student gets.
“We have to limit the number of tickets we give to every graduate because of the size of our stadium and how many people we can seat there. Everybody’s going to get five tickets and that’s final. You can’t request any extra tickets or anything like that,” Rigby explained.
With graduation being held at the football stadium, there is always a chance of bad weather, but Rigby says they have it all figured out.
“In case of inclement weather, we will hold it indoors and we’ll still have five tickets. Three of the ticket holders will be allowed in the contest gym and the other two will go to the auditorium and we’ll stream it on a big screen, if we have to come in because it’s raining, bad weather, or lighting, something like that,” Rigby said.
Another big change is the way seniors will be given their graduation tickets, pay fees, and turn in textbooks.
“Because now that the seniors are finishing the same time as everybody else is, they don’t have the extra time to get books turned in and fees and fines paid.”
A new board policy requires students to be up to date on their fines and fees otherwise they won’t be able to get their graduation tickets.
“The problem is it goes right up until Thursday and you’re still taking your exams and you might need your books. So, the seniors need to be aware that during finals week, when they finish testing, they need to start turning their stuff in whenever they can. Get that done, get cleared from the books store, get to the book keeper and get cleared so you can get your tickets from the book keeper,” Rigby said.
Seniors who haven’t purchased their cap and gowns can still buy them at this link and they will deliver the cap and gown. The cap and gowns are available for purchase until the day of, but Rigby recommends seniors hurry and get it taken care of.
Alum • Feb 13, 2015 at 10:04 PM
Why did you not ask the reasons why this changed? Could seriously take some better reporting. Who, what, when, where, and the big WHY?
Kathryn Kelly • Feb 10, 2015 at 8:50 PM
Now with my youngest child graduating from Niles West, I’m supposed to tell family that, sorry, you can’t come? This is a district with a high multicultural base of larger families and extended families. I don’t know about other students, but my daughter has family planning to come from Ohio, Florida, Texas, AND Bangladesh. This article doesn’t state what prompted the change in venue, but to decrease the number of tickets with no chance of requesting extras is totally preposterous!
Alumni • Feb 1, 2015 at 8:11 PM
Real classy niles west! Send people into the auditorium to watch their kids graduate high school on a video screen. Gotta save as much money as possible these days!