For the past 12 years we have poured our hearts and souls into our education, navigating challenges, celebrating victories, dedicating countless hours to study, and growing not only as students but as people.

Graduation ceremonies are a core part of the education system and to have AI announce our names the human connection is taken away, along with the importance of our accomplishments.

Hiring an AI company to read off our names is a short cut for the district to pronounce our names correctly. There are many other options the district had to choose from: having phonetic spelling next to our names, or hiring a voice actor. 

Choosing AI over these options not only took away the human connection but also took the opportunity away from a human to receive pay and recognition for this service.

We need to be careful where we use AI. As we graduate and join the world as adults the future is in our hands, we need to decide what our role will be, and what AI’s role will be.

By allowing this to happen, we are giving up both our names and the graduation ceremony that has been promised to us since kindergarten.

Sign this petition to allow OUR names to be pronounced at OUR graduation the way it should be- human.