Graduating at the Badlands Isn’t that Bad

Lucy Law

Students will now be able to say goodbye where it all started. Holding graduation in the Badlands will ultimately be more special for everyone.

Makayla Walders, Staff Writer
March 11, 2019

Recent news that the class of 2019 will be graduating at the Badlands Stadium at SJHHS has caused much uproar among students and parents. The community quickly became distraught to such a change, however all of the commotion is quite frankly, unnecessary.

In SJHHS’ past graduations, the ceremony has been held at the Bren Events Center at UC Irvine at 4 p.m. Each year, the school has been able to rent out the center for the entirety of the day, however was forced to share the location with two other schools last year. This caused backed up traffic and a delayed start time- the most unpleasant graduation experience yet.

This year, the predicament was the same. SJHHS was given no option, other than to share with the two schools, and to begin graduation at 7 p.m. Conflicting with Grad Night, which requires students to return to the school promptly at 8:30 p.m. This would be nearly impossible to pull off, and would leave students no time to take pictures and eat dinner with their families afterwards.

After much consideration, it was decided that from now on starting with the class of 2019, graduation will be hosted at the school on the football field at 4 p.m. Only one year in the past has SJHHS ever done this, also due to not being able to use the Bren; it was five years ago, for the class of 2014. When faced with the decision again, the options were either to find another place to rent, or use the Badlands. The other venues would not accommodate as good as the Bren did, so the decision was made to host graduation in our home stadium.

“If the graduation didn’t turn out as positively as it did in 2014, I wouldn’t have done it here again,” states Brooke Valderama, advisor of ASB. She speaks very highly of the previous graduation in the Badlands, and is optimistic for another successful and meaningful one this year.

Hosting the graduation at the Badlands ends the students’ high school career on a positive note, in the very place they have spent the last four years of their lives. There are no emotional ties to the Bren Center, other than the fact that other classes graduated there, however, there are nostalgic ties brought with the Badlands. The persistence it took to reach graduation happened at SJHHS, so why shouldn’t students receive a diploma there?

Some may argue that hosting a graduation earlier in the day, outside, will be difficult due to the potential of it being too hot for elderly. During the first week of June in Southern California, temperatures likely won’t be exceeding 75 degrees, and the canyon provides a nice breeze. However, there is always the chance of June gloom. Furthermore, as residents of Southern California, it is safe to say that we have all been to some sort of event in the sun, whether it be an Angel’s game, soccer game, or anything in between. We know how to accomodate for the sun.

Another positive factor to graduating in the Badlands is the short proximity it is to the community. UC Irvine is approximately 30 minutes from SJHHS, and getting there at 7 p.m. on a work day would take much longer than that.

While some claim parking may be an issue, each student is guaranteed one parking spot, and is allowed to enter a raffle for more. Six shuttles will run from Ladera Ranch Middle School and Esencia K-8 to accomodate for families who are still in need of more parking spots. These were utilized for the class of 2014 graduation, and run promptly to ensure everyone is on time for the event.

The stadium will occupy up to 4,500 with the extra bleachers and chairs that the school will be renting, providing students greater opportunity to invite more family members and friends to their big day.

SJHHS has covered all of the bases for any complaint brought to attention by students and parents. They should be grateful for the opportunity to finish their high school career where it began, and that administration and ASB has worked hard to grant them this privilege.