This year, MCHS will be holding graduation at McCracken Field with all seniors for the first time since 2019.

With the combining of both East and West campuses, this will be the first year that all seniors at MCHS will attend the same graduation ceremony. Previously, West and East campus held the ceremony in the main gyms, while East occasionally went to McCracken.

Last year was very different with both schools holding multiple ceremonies because of covid guidelines. While both campuses have held outdoor graduations before, with a much larger class, the community has decided to go outside.

“This year may be different because I felt it was important to survey all seniors,  their parents, staff and faculty to decide where do you want to go?” said Jeffry Prickett, principal at MCHS, “One of the options was McCracken Field. Another option was Willow Creek Church in Barrington.”

A vast majority of the voters wanted to stay in town and have graduation at McCracken. Because of the outdoor location, COVID restrictions will be almost nonexistent, however there will still be a concern for weather.

“If there is a concern for weather, we then would have to go into the gym here at the upper campus,” Prickett said. “Then there will be restrictions and we’ll have to have two separate graduations because we won’t be able to fit everybody in the main gym at one time.”

Seniors and their families are excited to have the ceremony at their hometown in one big ceremony to bring back some normalcy lost throughout past years.

“I feel like it’s a common place between the campuses,” says Aspen O’Brien. “It might seem weird for kids who have only been at the Upper Campus for one year to graduate in our gym, so McCracken is a perfect middle ground.”