SPS ends Project Graduation overnight events in favor of 'Senior Sendoff' at high schools

Springfield Public Schools has put an end to its decades-long tradition of providing a Project Graduation event for seniors to attend after commencement.

The once-popular overnight event — part of a national effort to give new high school graduates a safe, supervised and alcohol-free place to celebrate — will be replaced this May with a shorter "Senior Sendoff" for the Class of 2024.

Stephen Hall, chief communications officer, said the decision to end the off-site and overnight events in favor of the on-site sendoffs at each high school was made in June 2023 and based on feedback from high schools.

He said attendance at Project Graduation has declined in the past 10 years and questions have been raised about the annual cost, which fluctuates, given the small turnout overall.

The "Senior Sendoff," which will last a minimum of two hours, was designed to preserve the most popular aspects of the Project Graduation event — food, games and prizes — while giving seniors time to celebrate, take photos and say goodbye to classmates at their own high school.

This is the second major change to graduation-related festivities under Superintendent Grenita Lathan. The first was to move the five high school commencement ceremonies, which had been spread over two weekday evenings, to a single Saturday in May 2023.

The "Senior Sendoff" will be located in high school gyms, common areas or outside.

According to the district, the change was made with the hope of increasing student attendance, allowing school administrators to attend, and giving seniors more time to celebrate with family, including loved ones visiting from out of town.

Springfield parent Stephen Hardison said he was disappointed by the change. His son attended Project Graduation a few years ago and his daughter, a senior at Glendale High School, was looking forward to the event.

"SPS is notifying parents at this late date that Project Graduation is canceled due to declining attendance," he said. "I had a student attend two years ago and they said there was a lot of kids there and had a blast. I have spoken to other teachers and volunteers from last year and they said it was well-attended."

He was skeptical the attendance decline was the same at each high school. He said if the Project Graduation events helped safeguard the seniors the night after commencement, it was money well spent and should be a priority.

Hardison said the timing of each sendoff may be inconvenient for families. For example, the Glendale graduation is at 11:30 a.m. and the sendoff starts at 2:30 p.m.

"One of the nice things about Project Graduation is that it's at night so it does not interfere with family time," he said.

Hardison said the parents of Glendale seniors were recently notified about the change by email. The message was written by the volunteer parent planning committee and sent by principal Josh Groves.

The email read, in part: "SPS did not make this change lightly. Attendance at Project Graduation has been declining annually at all the high schools, and this is a trend nationwide. Change, especially of this magnitude, is hard but it really does provide an excellent venue for our parents and now administration to celebrate the students."

Parent volunteers still welcome

In past years, SPS has rented venues for each high school's Project Graduation — typically from the Ozarks Regional YMCA, the Springfield-Greene County Park Board, and local universities — and covered other costs.

On average, the rental fees per high school have ranged from $1,300 to $1,900 in recent years, according to posted board agendas.

The email from Glendale noted the "struggles" with attendance and logistics. "It really does flip an event, that as parents many of us participated in, on its head."

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Project Graduation relied heavily on parent volunteers to work the event and raise funds. Parents are still welcome to volunteer at the sendoff but the Glendale email pointed out there will be a small time commitment.

The email read: "Graduation is a busy time with family and friends. Senior Sendoff is not another thing to do. It is truly the last time your students will have the opportunity to get together as a graduating class to celebrate all of their accomplishments and reminisce on the fun times they had."

Schedule for 2024 graduations

Five Springfield high schools will have graduation on Saturday, May 18 at the Great Southern Bank Arena on the campus of Missouri State University. Here is the schedule:

• 9 a.m. − Central High School

• 11:30 a.m. − Glendale High School

• 2 p.m. − Hillcrest High School

• 4:30 p.m. − Parkview High School

• 7 p.m. − Kickapoo High School

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Springfield ends Project Graduation in favor of school 'sendoffs'