This encouragement came in the form of the school’s first Freshmen Commitment to Graduate ceremony. During the event, 36 first-year students, adorned in full royal blue graduation caps and gowns, signed individual promissory notes to remain in high school and graduate along with the rest of the class in May 2013. This was a promise that both the students and educators took seriously.
“I think it’s a very positive experience for the freshman class. It nails it home how important it is to complete high school and get that diploma, WHS principal Craig Bates said. “Hopefully, the ceremony had an impact on students in the audience and encouraged them to complete school, too.”
During the ceremony, which was meant to simulate the actual graduation experience the students have to look forward to, the students marched one by one onto the stage as their names were called and, rather than receive a diploma, signed a written vow to remain in school until they earn it.
The ceremony started off with an introduction to the event by Bates. Talladega County Schools Superintendent Suzanne Lacey followed with an opening speech outlining the seriousness of such a commitment and the new types of goals that high school requires.
“Today’s ceremony served an outstanding purpose: to motivate and set a high standard, and that’s what finishing high school is,” Lacey said after the commitment’s conclusion. She called the day a “powerful demonstration for when they do graduate.”
This powerful demonstration wasn’t lost on the students nor was it seen as being just for show.
“I felt really good about it because I know I can do it because I’m an AB honor roll student,” Cortney Jones said after she completed the ceremony. Her parents, grandparents, stepmother and aunt all witnessed her making that pledge in the auditorium.
Tory Cochran, another WHS freshman, said he was nervous about the commitment yet is confident he can do it, and that he felt good when he signed the pledge.
A big part of the pledge is that they were not only committing to stay in school, but are committing to graduate along with their current class. WHS graduation coach Iris Jemison, who was in charge of the event, said this part of the promissory note was to discourage thoughts that it’s OK to leave school because one can always return or try for General Education Development later.
Copies of the pledges will be placed in a chest to be displayed in the school’s main hallway so that when the students pass by it every day they’ll be reminded of their promises.
Once they graduate in four years, each student will get his or her signed note back with “Commitment Fulfilled” stamped on it.
Students were given invitations to distribute just like a real graduation. As a result, fellow students, friends, family members and teachers packed the auditorium to give their support and serve as a reminder that this promise came with witnesses and was not something to be taken lightly. County school officials and WHS staff were also present for this purpose.
Jemison, who was also a ceremony presenter, said she is serious about tackling the dropout rate at WHS, and has made the issue one of her primary duties. She said statistics show that approximately 30 percent of ninth-graders in the nation don’t finish high school. She cited some of the primary reasons students leave school is because of boredom, work, pregnancies or even thinking their teachers don’t like them.
“This is the first step against a growing epidemic. We must educate students against the dangers of dropping out,” said Jemison.
Jemison said the idea for Freshmen Commitment to Graduate came after she attended a dropout prevention conference two years ago. One of the other teachers there told how that school had taken pictures of freshmen in caps and gowns as a motivational tool. She discussed this and other ideas with Bates and they came up with the idea of giving freshmen their own pre-graduation ceremony.
“It’s a good idea because some kids don’t think they’ll graduate, and we need to talk them into it,” Jemison said. “This is just one of the many things we’re doing to encourage them not to drop out,” she said.
She cited other programs the school is instigating to keep students interested in their studies, such as student mentoring and job shadowing.
Lacey said this first-time event was a huge success and she had received inquiries from older students asking why they never did such a thing. Jemison and Bates are both sure that Freshmen Commitment to Graduate will become an annual event.
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