Why are Wake high school graduations in downtown Raleigh? And why is Broughton different?
Though some parents and students may have liked it, the Wake County school system has no plans to return to the days when high schools held graduations on their own campuses instead of going to the Raleigh Convention Center downtown.
In 2020 and 2021, COVID-19 restrictions resulted in Wake high schools holding graduations on campus, either in the gym or auditorium or at the football field.
But district leaders say high schools prefer the pre-pandemic approach of holding most graduations at the Raleigh Convention Center or Meymandi Hall in downtown Raleigh.
“Due to the pandemic, all schools have experienced what having a graduation looks like on their campus,” Lisa Luten, a district spokesperson, said in an email. “The high school principals have discussed this, and as a group, endorsed returning to downtown, based on the staff and family feedback they received.”
Between Saturday and June 15, 24 Wake high schools will hold graduation ceremonies at either the Raleigh Convention Center or Meymandi Hall.
Schools will be on a tightly choreographed schedule designed to hold multiple ceremonies most days — at 8 a.m., noon, 4 p.m. and 8 p.m.
The Broughton exception
Like Wake, other school districts such as Durham, Chapel Hill-Carrboro and Orange County hold the bulk of their graduations in a large central location — the Dean Smith Center at UNC-Chapel Hill or Cameron Indoor Stadium at Duke University.
But other districts, such as Johnston and Chatham counties, hold their graduations at individual school campuses.
Among the reasons Wake historically has given for using the Raleigh Convention Center is that the site is so large that graduates will have enough tickets for guests, rain or shine.
Wake high schools could have enough seats on campus by holding outdoor graduations at the football stadium. But, as has happened in several other districts, when bad weather forces the graduations to move indoors it means many guests can’t attend due to lack of seats.
An exception in Wake County is Broughton High School in Raleigh.
Broughton will hold its graduation on Friday in the school’s Holliday Gym, a school tradition.
Broughton has been allowed to hold graduations on campus because Holliday Gymnasium has a larger-than-normal capacity of more than 2,000 seats. Its large size is a reason why political candidates have often held rallies at Broughton.
Keeping the ceremony on campus allows for traditions such as Broughton graduates going up the steep steps in the bell tower to sign their names on the walls.
