Since 2021, the graduation ceremony has been held at Providence Park. According to vice principal Keyla Santiago, it started as a solution during COVID, but it stuck until the class of 2024.
“Providence Park was picked for being a huge outdoor setting, making people more comfortable during the pandemic times,” Santiago said.
This year, the ceremony will be at Portland State University on June 2. The reasoning for the change is because the Providence Park contract expired and PSU already had partnerships with other educational programs previously.
“The biggest impact will be that now tickets per graduate will be limited,” Santiago stated.
Students used to automatically get 10 tickets and could request more with no known limit. This year, the amount of tickets isn’t clear yet but will be less.
The PSU venue is much smaller than Providence Park meaning there will be a way to view the ceremony for people who were not able to get seats. The area used for overflow is called Smith Hall Auditorium. They will also get the opportunity to go congratulate their graduates in the Park Blocks immediately afterwards.
Changes that will come from this is the graduates will get to sit front and center, whereas they had an angled view at Providence Park.
Junior Quinnan Shaefer believes this could be a benefit for students.
“I had a good spot [last year], so I could see the graduates walking and get their diploma, but couldn’t see the podium,” Shaefer stated. “If I had been in a different spot, I don’t know how well I would’ve been able to see the graduates.”
Parking will be much cheaper for families, as they will no longer need to pay for street parking or garage parking, making this venue way more financially accessible.
They also will no longer need to worry about weather issues. According to Santiago, many previous ceremonies had to deal with tents, umbrellas, and students getting wet as they walked to the stage.
“We were lucky with good weather last year, which was nice because I heard it poured during Jefferson’s [graduation],” Shaefer pointed out.
Some students have mixed feelings about the change, specifically about being indoors now.
“Last year I received a scholarship from my AP Lang teacher at PSU and the gym was very humid, smelly, and small,” senior Liam Dieffenbach said. “I would much rather be outside.”
The change in setting was a district decision, which means that all the other PPS high schools will also be using PSU. This new contract will last for three years meaning classes of ‘25, ‘26 and ‘27 will all graduate there.
