High school to hold last commencement on school grounds
Tonight’s the big occasion for nearly 600 graduates of the Class of 2013 at Hillsborough High School.
Barring rain, the class graduation ceremony will take place on the school athletic field, beginning at 6 p.m. It will be the last commencement held at the campus; the school board voted in May to hold next year’s ceremony indoors at the Sun Arena in Trenton.
Moving the ceremony indoors will eliminate weather uncertainty and guarantee a comfortable environment, the board decided, after last year’s stifling heat for the outdoor ceremony and 2012’s indoor event that packed the gym.
The school will set up for a simulcast in the Commons, good weather or bad. And the ceremony will be streamed on the Internet at the district website.
Even if the ceremony is outdoors, don’t just show up and expect to get in. Each graduate will receive five tickets for an outdoor ceremony and four for an inside one. If it’s in the gym, two tickets will be for the gym, and two will be for the TV screens in the Commons.
”This class has been one of the most spirited classes ever to grace our hallways,” said Karen Bingert, principal.””
Class of 2013 members were awarded $125,000 in local scholarships at the senior awards night ceremony, Guidance Director Hillary Charney said. Students received nearly $9 million in scholarships, Superintendent Dr. Jordan Schiff said, from students’ chosen universities as well as national and state scholarships.
Tonight’s ceremony will be addressed by valedictorian Marielle Brady, salutatorian Joy Zou and class president Ezra Baeli-Wang.
The ceremony will mark the windup to a hectic final week of seniors’ careers. The senior athletic awards banquet was Friday. They took finals exams Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. This morning, Thursday, seniors will share memories and sign yearbooks at a breakfast in the Commons, followed by graduation rehearsal from 9 to 11:45 a.m. Then they are free until reporting back to the auditorium at 5 p.m.
After graduation, most of the class will board buses to go to Dave and Buster’s arcade in Philadelphia where they will spend the entire night playing games, gorging and enjoying classmates’ company in celebration.
Starting in June 2014, graduation ceremonies will be held at Sun National Bank Arena in Trenton. A school calendar shows graduation on Wednesday, June 18.