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Graduation 2005

Class of '05 ready to walk the walk, but where?

With the Times Arena gone, some high schools turn to large venues like Tropicana Field for graduation. Others prefer the homegrown - football fields.

By DONNA WINCHESTER
Published May 8, 2005

ST. PETERSBURG - The recent demolition of a local landmark posed a serious question for many Pinellas County high schools.

Where to hold graduation ceremonies for the Class of 2005?

For generations of seniors, the venue most recently known as the Times Arena at Bayfront Center fit the bill perfectly. It boasted plenty of seats, adequate parking, and perhaps most important, shelter from unpredictable spring weather.

But as early as 2003, the handwriting was on the wall: By winter of 2004, the arena would be torn down to make way for a more modern facility. School officials began making alternate plans for graduation 2005, which falls on May 17, 18 and 19.

Schools that have traditionally hosted graduation ceremonies on their campus - St. Petersburg, Lakewood, Largo, Clearwater and Tarpon Springs high schools - simply decided to continue doing so.

But the other 11 had to decide between congratulating students on their football fields or choosing from one of several indoor venues large enough to accommodate them.

Dunedin High School opted to return to Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater. Gibbs High decided to go there, also. The remaining schools chose Tropicana Field.

A number of factors entered into the equation, the most compelling being the size of the schools and their desire to stay cool - and dry.

The decision to go to the Trop was easy for Dixie Hollins, Osceola and Seminole high schools. They had held commencement ceremonies there in 2003 and would have done so last year if the major league baseball schedule would have permitted it.

"If you have the ceremony at the school, there tends to be a problem with seating and parking," said Deb Fabrizio, assistant principal at Dixie Hollins. "At this time of the year, weather is a huge factor. The other thing is the sound system. A lot of football fields have weak systems. At the Trop, you can hear a pin drop."

Fabrizio, who has planned Dixie's commencement ceremonies for several years, compares the endeavor to planning a wedding for thousands of guests. She likes the fact that the $3,500 fee the school pays the Trop includes the stage, the chairs, security and insurance. Students also appear on the venue's closed-circuit TV screen at least twice, once when they walk onto the field from the dugout and again when they receive their diplomas.

Casey Jones, a teacher at Seminole High who is in charge of that school's event, said she was glad to return to the Trop this year. Seminole is the first of four schools that will graduate students on May 18, the Trop's biggest day. The school moved its procession from 9 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. to accommodate Dixie Hollins' students, who are scheduled to graduate at noon.

The job of coordinating nine ceremonies in three days fell to Caren Gramley, special events booking coordinator for Tropicana Field.

"I mapped out two-hour slots," Gramley said. "We had to start early enough in the day to allow enough time to clear the building, clean it, and open the gate for the next school without them running into each other."

Gramley customizes each ceremony based on a floor plan the schools provide. Chairs are added or subtracted based on the number of graduates. Different colored ribbons are attached to floral sprays to prevent each school from having to buy flowers. And a new CD is popped into the Trop's recording equipment at the start of each ceremony so that the schools receive a recording of their special event.

Ralph Sessa, an assistant principal at Boca Ciega High, said the school abandoned the idea of holding its ceremony on its football field after polling students and parents.

"We decided early in the year that we needed to find a place," Sessa said. "We got the first slot at the Trop on Tuesday at 3:30."

East Lake High School language arts teacher and senior class adviser Marcy Ewell said her school kept three things in mind when choosing a location for its 400 graduates and more than 5,500 anticipated parents and guests.

"We needed to find a place that would hold at least that many people, be inside, and be in Pinellas County," she said. "The kids wanted to try having it here, but the principal was against it because of the weather problems we have in May."

Last year, East Lake paid $2,400 to rent the arena, Ewell said. This year, the school had to raise graduation fees slightly to cover the Trop's $5,000 fee. But it has one consolation: As the last of the nine schools to use the facility, East Lake gets to keep the flowers, Ewell said.

But despite the assurance of a comfortable environment, some school officials insist homegrown ceremonies are still the best. Martin Shapiro, program coordinator for the Center for Advanced Technologies at Lakewood High, said he wouldn't dream of holding commencement anywhere but on the school's football field.

"This has always been a community school and people like coming here," Shapiro said. "They like to see friends they graduated with and their own kids graduating on the same field."

Besides, he said, Lakewood's graduation gets rained out only about once every five years.

Everyone got soaked last year, he said.

Here is the 2005 graduation schedule for Pinellas high schools:

Tuesday, May 17

Boca Ciega High School, 3:30 p.m. at Tropicana Field

Pinellas Park High School, 7 p.m. at Tropicana Field

Clearwater High School, 7:30 p.m. at the school stadium

Wednesday, May 18

Largo High School, 8 a.m. at the school stadium

Dunedin High School, 9 a.m. at Ruth Eckerd Hall

Seminole High School, 9 a.m. at Tropicana Field

Dixie Hollins High School, noon at Tropicana Field

Gibbs High School, 3 p.m. at Ruth Eckerd Hall

Palm Harbor University High, 3:30 p.m. at Tropicana Field

Lakewood High School, 7 p.m. at the school stadium

Osceola High School, 7 p.m. at Tropicana Field

Tarpon Springs High, 7 p.m. at the school stadium

St. Petersburg High, 8 p.m. at the school stadium

Thursday, May 19

Northeast High, 8 a.m. at Tropicana Field

Countryside High, 11:30 a.m. at Tropicana Field

East Lake High, 3:30 p.m. at Tropicana Field

[Last modified May 11, 2005, 11:19:47]