With graduation growing eerily close, the conversation about the logistics of where have been a recent topic of conversation. When Capital City was built, the school unfortunately never had a stadium with adequate seating completed, because the funds were not initially available. As an outcome of this, some seniors will not have the graduation ceremony they had in mind, at least one that encompassed in outdoor environment.

In early March, senior Karen Akrobetu started a petition to promote that the Class of 2022 Graduation Ceremony should be held in a space that would not limit the number of people that would be able to attend. Her argument was that if the ceremony were held in a space like the school’s gymnasium, then seating would likely be limited. “I wanted to start the petition because a lot of us in the senior class have way more than four people in our intermediate family, and as the first graduating class, we should be able to share this moment with our whole family, not just some. We deserve to have our graduation outside, like JC. If you’ve ever been to one of their graduations, literally anyone can come. So, Capital City students should have the same opportunity,” said Akrobetu. “It affected my outlook on graduation negatively because that’s not what I know a graduation ceremony to be. We understand how the school feels about being different, but this is supposed to be an amazing day for seniors; it’s hard to be excited about something when the people that helped you the most all can’t attend,” she added.

Within a day, Akrobetu received approximately 700 signatures on her petition. “I definitely did not expect that many so quickly! Like it was crazy, I posted it on my social media and within 20 minutes so many people were signing it, and reposting it. That brought me so much joy because it showed that people really did care about how the senior class feels and wanted the same change that we do for our graduation.”

Graduation is scheduled for Friday, May 13 at 7 PM.