Dear Fort Bend ISD Leadership Executives,

In the past couple of days, the Class of 2020 received information about the details of this year's graduation ceremony. I understand that you all have had to make many adjustments to the ceremony this year due to COVID-19, however, there were some crucial changes made that we want to address with you all. 

We believe that students should be recognized for their four years of hard work at graduation, which has historically been the case. However this year, meritocratic graduation is almost completely disregarded since all students, except for the top 10 students, will graduate based on the time they arrive at Hall stadium. That means that a student with no awards and a low rank will be able to graduate before a student in summa cum laude since graduation seating is now in first come first serve order. 

Every student who has earned a position in graduating with summa cum laude, magna cum laude, and cum laude honors has worked very hard during the last four years for the ranks and honors they received, and it is not fair to put every student on the same level at graduation. Currently, you have chosen to level the playing field by allowing rank #11 (which is by no means an easy accomplishment) to graduate based on when they arrived at the stadium. Graduating first is something that has been earned through academic achievements, and has historically been the way to truly recognize a student's accomplishments.

We propose to you all an easy solution: The seats should be divided into the cum laude sectors. For example, the seats closest to the stage should be for summa cum laude, the seats behind them should be for magna cum laude, then cum laude, and then the rest. Additionally, for summa cum laude, each seat will have a name card in student rank order, reserving those seats. For magna cum laude, cum laude, and the rest, students can abide by the first-come-first-serve seating, but within their respective honor section. This way, students will still be recognized for their academic achievements, while still creating a seamless, safe prep for the ceremony. Students who have earned their spot to graduate with summa cum laude honors should not have to wake up super early the day-of-graduation concerned whether or not they actually get to sit in the spot they deserve. 

We want the graduating students to get the recognition they deserve for their achievements, which is the fundamental core purpose of having a graduation ceremony in the first place. Since the ceremony is already putting attendees at risk of catching the coronavirus, the ceremony should fully represent and celebrate the students' accomplishments, rather than just having a namesake ceremony that arbitrarily recognizes the accomplishments of less than 1-2% of all FBISD graduates. We only graduate high school once, so I think that we should do it in a way that recognizes each students' achievements accordingly, especially when we have already been stripped of prom, our senior trip, and a chance to say our last goodbyes to the people we cared about the most. 

Best,
FBISD Class of 2020