Niagara high school students unhappy with graduation date change

High school graduation is an exciting milestone for many, but some students in the District School Board of Niagara say they’re not happy with their upcoming graduation date.

“This is not just Eden affected, it is all DSBN schools that really care about this issue and just want a proper celebration,” says Eden High School student Olivia Gillespie.

Back in October, Gillespie found out that her high school graduation would be much different than what she expected.

“It would originally happen the day after exams. Now we were given a window between May 21st and June 11th, and our graduation date now is June 11th. That’s before exams so the next day we would have to go right back to school.”

It’s a change other students are not happy with. Another Eden student, Manuela Jarrin has joined Gillespie in her efforts to hold the graduation ceremony after exams.

“Okay, I go to school Monday, go to the celebration Tuesday, and wake up Wednesday morning. No, I’d rather use my Tuesday night to study for the exams that I have. It’s so meaningless,” says Jarrin.

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The two students say a proper high school graduation is extremely important for them because the pandemic disrupted another major graduation almost four years ago.

Along with starting a petition, both Gillespie and Jarrin have contacted multiple board representatives including DSBN’s Superintendent of Curriculum and Student Achievement for secondary schools.

But they say they are not getting answers.

“You’re listening to us, but you’re not hearing us, you’re not paying attention to the things that we’re saying. That is so crucial if you’re entire thing is student voices matter, student voices matter, we’re here for you, you’re not demonstrating that, we shouldn’t have to fight this hard to get something we deserve,” says Jarrin.

CHCH reached out to the DSBN to talk about its decision to change the graduation dates but they were unable to speak on Friday.

Gillespie and Jarrin say they plan to attend a board meeting on January 24th to bring up the issue again.

So far their petition has over three thousand signatures.