Graduation, SAT tests, senior sunrise, and senior sunset. Applying for colleges and getting accepted to colleges. For most seniors, these are the joys that come with being a senior. 

As a senior, there are many tasks to do as we make our way to the uncertainty of adulthood. Although turning eighteen is seen as the age of adulthood to the government, to schools, it’s just another birthday, you are treated the same all four years until you graduate.

Being in high school, it is usually common in students to feel like their individuality is not important through the crowds of students. While this may seem demeaning, I would argue this just highlights the loneliness of adulthood, therefore doing its job properly. But because high school can drain the energy out of students throughout the four years, causing them to lose what makes them special, it also means we don’t always get to have the liberty of being ourselves. 

Graduation is extremely important to most seniors. Leaving high school, off to greater achievements. It would be nice if we could end the year in a grand finale, making our graduation really special and unique.

Having the freedom to decorate our graduation caps would let seniors give one last homage to the things in our life we love. But unfortunately, as of now, we do not get to have this privilege. In fact, all of the schools in Lewisville ISD do not allow the decoration of graduation caps. 

Teenagers love expressing their personalities through creative media. As a teenager myself, being able to communicate my feelings via different mediums is very important to developing my emotions. When this freedom is taken away, however, it feels dejecting. Not being able to decorate our caps feels like one last attempt to take away our freedom of expression. We’re giving away our individuality and spirit for a diploma.

Although many schools in Texas do not allow students to decorate their caps, some schools are letting students have this advantage. High schools in the Laredo School District and Round Rock Independent School District allowed students to decorate their caps, and the results were appreciable. Seniors were able to express their personalities as well as pay tribute to friends and family. Some students even opted to put the college they were attending on theirs.

Burges High School in the El Paso district also permitted students to do this. They laid out clear guidelines for their students, and that didn’t stop anyone from participating. LISD could relay clear guidelines about what is and is not allowed/acceptable on the caps to ensure the appropriateness of the messages/decorations.

Even if you could dismiss not being able to decorate our caps, seniors miss out on many opportunities other things as well. For example, seniors don’t get quotes in the yearbook next to our portraits, which is something that most seniors look forward to. We also do not have off campus lunch, another luxury many seniors have.  

As the year slowly approaches its end and graduation draws near, being able to decorate our graduation caps would serve as a reminder that we are in our last year of high school. Last year of being a reckless teenager and never thinking twice. Off to higher education, or getting a job and working hard, or some crazy reality I could never think of. It would be something we could look at when we feel down and want to be reminded of simpler times, where the only worries were homework due dates. A goodbye to childhood memories and a warm hello to the real world.