I have to say, if you would’ve asked me a week ago how I felt about the changes to graduation, I would’ve probably went on a rage about traditions and how we can’t change them. I think that’s how everyone feels, as it is a Biddeford tradition to keep tradition and get upset when those traditions are broken. We live so closely by these traditions that often times we overlook the benefits of new ideas. I’m guilty of it, and 99% of Biddeford residents are guilty of it. Like I said, it’s a tradition.

But now that I’ve given graduation a little time to settle, I’ve realized a few things. I realized that although we have been graduating on a Sunday since the beginning of Biddeford history, a Friday night isn’t half bad. In fact, I question why I hated it so much in the first place. It’s not as if Mr. Sirois and the school board took away graduation, they just moved it to a day that wouldn’t compete with surrounding schools. And if you can get passed the fact that it’s not on a Sunday (which I know will be hard for many of you) you’ll realize that graduation is graduation, regardless if it’s on a Friday night, Sunday afternoon, or on Christmas morning. We will still receive our diplomas, see all of the regular speeches, and throw our caps in the air as high as we possibly can–the only difference being that the very beautiful Maine sunset may be seen falling behind the bleachers and the temperatures would be much milder. If you ask me, there’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, I love the idea. Graduation will be shorter, more enjoyable, and more beautiful on a nice June Friday night, and I could not be more excited to graduate under these conditions.

However, there are some changes I did not like. I am a firm believer that the order in which the graduates sat in previous years should be restored (this is not my Biddeford tradition to keep traditions speaking, either). I liked the boy-girl walking partners and I liked the front row consisting of officers and top ten. It’s something that I think they’ve earned. Now I may be biased because I fall into those categories, but regardless if I did or didn’t, I would still believe that they deserve that recognition. In regards to the marching partners, I just think it makes the graduates look more orderly, as there is a pattern of white and black.

Conclusively, I advise everyone to take a deep breath, relax, and look at the new graduation with a little less tradition–mindset and a little more “well, this could be okay,” because I promise you that come graduation, you won’t even notice that it’s Friday night, and I’m willing to bet that most of you will look back and question why you had a problem with it in the first place.