Capping Off Senior Year!

In 2021, Manteca Unified’s Graduation ceremonies will be unlike ever before. Thanks to a collaborative effort from student Board members and the MUSD Board of Trustees, seniors will be able to decorate their grad caps for the first time EVER!

In previous years, decorating graduation caps was not a tradition for high school seniors. However, in 2019, Board Trustee Stephen J. Schluer, who served as Board President at the time, received a letter from a senior at East Union High School requesting that the Board reconsider the decision. When reading over the student’s letter, Trustee Schluer stated that he “agreed the matter should be looked at, and it seemed like a great opportunity for Board governance to show that student voice matters” and brought the discussion up at a Board Meeting.

Following his initial pitch to the MUSD Board, then-President Schluer tasked EUHS student Board representative Brooklyn Johnson to establish and lead a “Grad Cap Committee,” where she would take charge of the project. This committee included students, staff and district administrators including senior directors.

The committee created a presentation for the Board which highlighted the multiple benefits of allowing seniors to decorate their caps, along with a list of suggested guidelines the district could use if implemented and a process to devolve regulations.

This was the turning point for MUSD seniors: In 2019, the MUSD Board of Education ultimately approved the committee’s request to allow the decoration of grad caps!

Due to the constraints on ceremonies in 2020, graduating seniors from the Class of 2020 didn’t get a chance to throw their decorated hats in the air during a traditional graduation ceremony – but the Class of 2021 is about to experience it for the very first time.

While there are several conditions in place, including regulations involving what can or cannot be featured on one’s cap and the condition that designs must be approved prior to graduation, the change reflects the true power of the student body.

Trustee Schluer summarized the collaboration perfectly:

Maris Prado | East Union High School

“I’m so excited to be able to wear my decorated cap on graduation! My approved designs represent many things close to my heart so I’m grateful for the chance to show them off. I’m also thrilled to see everyone else’s cap and their creativity in making them. I’m glad that we were allowed to decorate them and are being given this opportunity! I’d like to express my gratitude towards Manteca Unified School District for their permission in this, as being able to convey our individualism during the ceremony will be very significant not only on graduation day, but in our future when we look back at photos. I am honored to be able to wear my cap!” - Maris

Magaly Bautista-Ramos | Weston Ranch High School

“Being able to decorate our caps is such an amazing opportunity and I’m so grateful that we get to do it! When I started as a freshman, I didn’t know if I’d ever have the opportunity to design a personal image for my grad cap, so I am so happy Manteca Unified is giving us this chance! For me, this opportunity means everything because it allows me to express my culture and love for my parents who sacrificed everything for me and my education. My parents immigrated to the United States from Mexico so they could give me and my siblings a better life with greater educational opportunities, so being able to honor them on my grad cap is so meaningful and special.” - Magaly