Students at St. Paul Academy and Summit School often dream of graduating on the perfectly manicured front lawn, wearing white dresses and suits, and taking pictures that perfectly represent their time spent in high school. This traditional image of graduation will be altered for the class of 2018. Fortunately, they will still get to have their graduation ceremony in a beautiful space, where their family and friends can all attend. Because of construction on the new Schilling Math and Science Center, the graduation ceremony cannot take place on the lawn, and is being moved to the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Saint Paul.

The original plan was for the graduation ceremony to be held in the Huss Center for Performing Arts, but the Huss Center, while beautiful, cannot hold the amount of people that will be attending the graduation ceremony, and students would have had to limit the amount of guests they could invite. Many seniors this year and seniors from last year that were forced to have their graduation ceremony moved to Huss because of the weather, were not happy about the location of Hussas their graduation location. The class of 2018 have had to go through the inconvenience of the construction process, but will never get to use the new building, like the rest of the high school students. Because of this, this year’s seniors deserve a beautiful place to hold their graduation and access to bring their family and friends.

Another option that was considered was Lang Field. It’s outside, gorgeous, and is arguably the closest the seniors can get to the front lawn outside the lunchroom. The downside of that option is that it offers little access to shade from the sun. Minnesota weather in June is very unpredictable, so there is a high possibility of rain as well.

The Ordway is a beautiful space that has access to lots of seating to accommodate the seniors’ guests and it is a great compromise for the seniors who want to see all their family and friends at the graduation ceremony.