On April 2, 2023, almost a month before graduation, Senior Class Sponsor, Mr. Joshua Raven, sent an email to all of Stafford High School’s senior class that included an updated version of the graduation letter. This updated version included some changes, including a limit on the number of guests per graduate. This unexpected change caused frustration and irritation for some of the soon-to-be graduates and their families.

“In an effort to align graduation practices with the other Stafford County high schools, Stafford will require tickets to enter the stadium for graduation,” said a portion of the letter. The letter also included, “Each student will receive 10 tickets at graduation practice on May 16th.”
Some SHS seniors and their families are now facing tensions over this last-minute change to the regulations; earlier in the year they were told tickets to graduation would be first come, first serve. Many have family members who have booked flights ahead of time in order to attend graduation, have family who are taking time off work to make it, or have family who wants to attend their students’ graduation because they were under the impression that they would receive as many tickets as needed.
Senior, Julia Coelho, is one of the many students affected by this rule. Julia says, “I have a lot of people coming in from out of town. My best friend and her mom are coming in from Colorado.” She goes on to elaborate on how this corresponds with the rule, “I am trying to make space for her and my family, and I have a pretty big family, so I am already short on tickets. I didn’t know we were only going to have ten tickets, I thought we were going to have as many as we needed.” She goes on to say she will now have to move around her plans because of this rule or try to figure out a way to get the extra tickets.
When asked about this new graduation regulation Chelsea Tryon, Principal at Stafford High School, said, “We determined tickets by dividing our stadium by the number of graduates.” She went on to say, “I will ask graduates at graduation practice to give back any tickets they may not use and distribute additional tickets to those who need them.” She also mentioned that the graduation will be live streamed for families to watch the graduation from a central location and added that additional tickets can not be purchased.
For seniors with a few-precious weeks left to plan before a graduation that has been four years in the making, the announcement was brash. “This change came so last minute, if I knew only ten people could come ahead of time I wouldn’t be stuck in this situation,” said senior Emily Giececk.