For the last four years, have you been dreaming of wearing black and gold when you walk across the stage? Well, if you’re graduating with Honors this year, your dream will not be fulfilled. No one will be able to graduate in black and gold this year. However, girls will wear grey and boys will wear maroon, while the Honors students simply get the gold rope to represent their status as an Honor student.

Is it fair to take away the biggest thing that separates the students who chose the path of least resistance from the students that chose the path least traveled, striving to excel in the face of academic rigor and pressure. Moreover, is it unfair that all of these years before Maplewood gave Honor students the glory of wearing a different color when making the once-in-a-lifetime walk?    

“I’ve looked forward for three years now of wearing a completely different shade from the standard kids, and now it’s being changed to some string,” said Honor senior Alexis Kelly.

This year Maplewood is improving dramatically, but the way they are treating the seniors is outrageous. We have been following rules and regulations, and studying hard, but now we have to worry about graduation. We seem to not have a voice in the cap and gowns at all. Most of our senior class is graduating with Honors, and we deserve to wear what the majority wants at OUR graduation.

Maplewood’s staff is making our entire senior year a huge disaster! We were told to make petitions to sign, but plenty of people have made petitions, and nothing has happened. Maybe we should take it to the school board this time. We can’t sit still and complain; We seniors must take responsibility to make our senior year memorable. We obviously can’t count on the staff of Maplewood to stand up for us, so we have to be grown about it, and do it ourselves.  I feel like our principals aren’t putting a lot of thought into our big day, and we deserve better.