The students and the staff members eagerly await the Class of 2018’s graduation on May 12.

The Commencement ceremony takes place at The Connor Palace every year in May. According to principal Jeffrey Legan, graduation requires tremendous preparation from the staff by figuring out the logistics, as well as the seniors’ cooperation. Some years, graduation may be earlier than other years because of the limited availability of the Connor Palace – which is what’s occurring this year.

Legan said, “[We book The Connor Palace Theatre] a year in advance; we have next year already booked. The hard part is that we have to schedule around the Broadway shows that come in each year, so that’s why we had to do Commencement a week earlier [this year] and next year, we have to do it a week later.”

Jane Perry is Assistant Principal and responsible for speaking during the ceremony. Perry said, “The biggest logistical [logistically difficult] piece is making sure we have our students lined up correctly. Logistically speaking thats a lot of people to get in the right order to and find and fill into the rows to make sure everyone is lined up.”

Even the smallest details within the preparation of graduation takes effort such as Perry, who reads out each graduating seniors name as they walk across the stage. She said, “In terms of preparation, for me personally, it’s a huge honor and responsibility to be the one who gets to read the names. I usually start reviewing the senior roster and highlighting those names I need to practice even before winter break.”

Performances and speeches during the ceremony are chosen months before so that the students can prepare. Legan said, “The valedictorian and salutatorian always speak as well as the president of student council and the president of senior class. For the musical performance we have the instrumental piece and I ask Mr. Trieber who he thinks would be best and I will ask students if they want to try out for it.”

“And the same with the vocal, I ask students to try out and I know it was a little late this year and I only had one person come to me later, but I had already decided that point since no one had come over that I kind of put something together but normally it is a try out,” Legan said.

As Head Counsel President, Jose Mendez, it is a tradition to speak about the future beyond high school. He said, “The theme Mr. Legan gave me [to talk about] was the future and since it’s a pretty broad topic, it’s up to me how I want to go about it. I want to talk about how the experiences we had in high school and how it or will it shape the future we hope to have.“

Some students may question why graduation doesn’t move to a different venue to maintain the same date for Commencement each year. Legan said, “I think it [the Connor Palace] is probably one of the most beautiful venues and I think it kind of separates us from the rest of those that are commencing. Some people do it in a gym, some people do it in a church, but I just think that there is nothing better than having this 10,000 seat venue, and it’s very elegant and classy.”

With the graduation earlier this year than usual and in between AP tests, there are conflicts with with the time and date of the rehearsal. One particular AP test is taking place on the same day as the Commencement rehearsal, on May 11 at 9:00am, but starts at 12:00pm.

To accommodate the conflicts, Legan said, “So what we are doing, for those people who are going to take it [the AP test] will go through the practice [rehearsal] and then we have a seperate bus that’s going to take them back so they won’t miss it.”

Even though there are conflicts with graduation and takes enormous efforts from the Mayfield High School members, commencement is something every class looks forward to. Class of 2018 senior, Eliza Benyaminov, said, “I’m excited about the ceremony and the experience of graduation as well as seeing my family and friends because we have all worked hard so to get there.”

Mendez said, “The experience as a whole [is what I look forward to]. Being able to be with my friends and family and to celebrate the hard work we have put in since kindergarten. I’m really excited to make my parents proud and to thank them for everything they’ve done for me.”