The long-standing tradition of graduation being held at Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., was broken in Covid. While the class of 2022’s graduation ceremony was held at Constitution Hall, the class of 2021’s graduation was held on the stadium field. This choice was made for the safety of everyone at the graduation ceremony. Having a graduation with hundreds of families packed into an indoor venue wasn’t a viable option with Covid-19 spreading so rampantly. The choice was controversial at first, but amilies came around because of the increased number of tickets for families and convenience of graduation being at school. So, this raises the question: Should graduation for the class of 2023 be held at Wootton or Constitution Hall?

There are pros and cons to both of these venue options. Constitution Hall has tradition going for it since it has been the venue of graduation ceremonies for a long time. It is also a grand building located in the heart of D.C., with history in its walls. This would make it a good place to have a momentous occasion like graduating from high school, right? Well, not exactly. There are some constraints regarding the number of tickets each student gets, which limits the number of family members students can bring, leading to people getting left out of the graduation ceremony. Also, being in the heart of D.C. makes it hard for families to get to and even harder to find parking. “It would be very difficult to find parking near Constitution Hall with so many people also trying to find parking,” senior Tyler Cosgrove said.

The stadium, on the other hand, is conveniently located at school, which makes it easy for families to get to. Parking isn’t an issue, with a lot conveniently located directly next to the stadium. Another pro of the stadium is there isn’t a limit on how many tickets families can get for the graduation ceremony, so no one will be left out. But, there are drawbacks to the stadium. For one, it is outside, which means that graduation can only happen if weather conditions permit. Also, having graduation at the school is less impressive than Constitution Hall and could make the momentous occasion feel less important than it is. “I am worried about rain causing issues for our graduation if it were to be in the stadium,” senior Henry Zhang said.

With all of this in mind, the school had decided to leave the decision up to a vote. On Oct. 3, a Google form was sent out to survey seniors and their families to see where they want the graduation to take place. The options of the survey were to have graduation at school, have it somewhere locally but not at the school or have it somewhere not at school but also not local (such as D.C.). “I am curious to get the results of the survey back and find out where our graduation will be,” senior Abraham Labban said.