Staff Report
Heavy winds at last spring’s Hays High School graduation ceremony at Shelton Stadium threatened to topple flowers and sweep away tablecloths, not to mention take graduation mortars off the heads of hundreds of graduates. And don’t get us started on ruining the hairdos of hundreds of young women.
Should rain or other bad weather force the ceremonies indoors, Hays CISD district officials said the back-up plan of holding the events in, for example, Bales Gym, would severely limit the number of people allowed to attend because the space is small.
The threat of bad weather and high winds, high humidity, and being in a cramped space, caused district officials to scout out a new location for Hays and Lehman High School graduation ceremonies.
At least for this school year, graduation will take place at Strahan Coliseum on the Texas State University campus in San Marcos.
District officials estimate that about 5,000 people attend each of the high school graduations each year. Strahan Coliseum can easily seat that many and more. Hays CISD spokesperson Tim Savoy said it also has a roof and airconditioning, and plenty of parking.
Both ceremonies are scheduled for June 4, with the Hays High graduation set for 3 p.m. and Lehman set for 8 p.m. However, parents who saw the notice on the district Facebook site were not all thrilled with the change.
Some parents expresed concern about a mid-afternoon start time that could cause logistical issues for siblings and family members fcoming from out of town. As a result, Hays CISD spokesperson Tim Savoy said administrators are working with Strahan Coliseum staff to potentially move the Hays High ceremony to later in the afternoon.
