The Catalyst

By Lizbeth Luna, Reporter

Walking at graduation symbolizes all the hard work and effort that seniors have put forth throughout their high school career. The steps taken across the stage signals the accomplishment of graduating from high school. It is a time when seniors are entitled to celebrate with friends, but what if the school board decided that a person was ineligible to walk with the graduating class because of one unexcused tardy?

Senior Sam Pierce will have to experience this punishment because she woke up late one day during her senior year. When her alarm clock failed, she didn’t think anything about it and walked up to the main office at her high school and told administrators why she had been late. She would later realize that the one unexcused tardy that she received that day would prevent her from walking with her class.

Peirce is an honor student who has works just as hard as her peers. The senior is upset that she will only be allowed to watch her class walk from the stands, amongst the crowd. The unfair treatment raises the question of whether or not the school board is taking the offense to an extreme. The high school principle claims that seniors are well informed of the policy that they uphold. At the school, seniors must have no unexcused absences during the second semester of their senior year or they will not be allowed to participate in the commencement exercise.

The rule that the school abides by was placed into affect after having a problem with students skipping school. Despite the senior’s attempt to renegotiate the fault that she committed, the class of 2010 at Wausaukee High School will walk without the senior at graduation.