BY DORIS MURILLO

For the past four years most of WCHS, the Class of 2018’s aspiration was to graduate. All 12 years of school work and dedication would be worth it when you’d be sitting on the Bulldog field glancing at the row of palm trees and the beautiful sunset scenery just like all the alumni have experienced it in the past. When you expect the ceremony for so long and work even harder for the memorable experience and then you are deprived of it, it is something no one, especially students, deserve. The relocation of the 2018 graduation ceremony to Walnut High School is unacceptable and disappointing for many because the Class of 2018 will not have the benefit of its renovation; it is against the education we have been given, and it is not just a location but also our home.

As a senior and part of the graduating class this year, I am being told to sacrifice a dream of mine with no reward, motive, or incentive. Our graduation will be held at Walnut High School because the bleachers at Thyberg Field will be reconstructed along with other construction that has been granted, but none of us will be here to benefit from the new facilities or field. So why should we pay the highest price for it? The bottom line is that we shouldn’t.  

Every senior is required to take a government class in order to graduate from high school, so what better place to exercise our learnings of the Democratic Justice system then at school? We are taught that the best way to govern a country is through a democracy where voting is how things are accomplished, but at the same time the exact place where we learn this is the exact same place where our voices are not being considered. The fact is that no senior is satisfied with graduating at another school, but apparently that does not matter. Democracy is only applied in places where it’s more convenient. In this case, it is not convenient for the affected community (seniors) to have a say in what will be happening.

The most significant rationale for the majority is that graduation will not be matched to our expectations. We understand that we will still be receiving a diploma and will be surrounded by the people who have come a long on this journey with us, but West Covina High School is our home and where it all happened. WCHS is known for the overflowing amount of school pride: the loudest chants and the proudest students. To have to display this at another school is unfaithful of our beliefs. WCHS is “Home of the Bulldogs” but Bulldogs are graduating at the “Home of the Mustangs.”

For us, it is not just a ceremony. It’s a key milestone of our life accomplishments that we will remember for the rest of our lives. WCHS is where we will remember Friday Night Lights, rallies, Homecomings, Award Nights, practices, rehearsals, club meetings, and many more unaccounted for individual memories. Our graduation ceremony is our last goodbye to our high school career, our last experience, just not for the Class of 2018. We have been told that there is nothing we can do about it, but as a student, I encourage parents to speak out for your children because your voice is always accounted for. Maybe this is irreversible, or perhaps it is not, but we cannot keep our arms crossed at this whole situation.