Senior Important Dates

• April 12 - Announcements delivery at lunchtime
• April 15 - Graduation Speech Try-Outs @ 3:00pm in the theater
• April 17 - Graduation Performance Try-Outs @ 3:00pm in the theater
• April 19 - Cap and Gown Delivery at lunchtime
• April 24 - Military Commitment Ceremony at 1:00pm in the Hub
• April 25 - Top 25 Reception/Senior Awards Night
• April 26 - Signing Day for Athletics @ 7:30am in the gym
• May 2 - Senior Meeting during Hawktime
• May 4 - East Prom at Sharonville Convention Center 8:00-11:00pm
• May 8-9 - Senior Exams
• May 9 - Last academic day for seniors
• May 10 - Senior Chromebook turn in and clean out lockers
• May 14 - Senior Car Show/Parade of Graduates
• May 15 - Graduation Practice from 9:00-11:00/Senior Picnic from 11:00-1:00
• May 17 - Graduation @ 8:00pm at Cintas Center

Senior Meeting Slide Show - from March 13, 2024 Senior meeting

Announcement Delivery from Graduate Services

Graduate Services will be at Lakota East on April 12th during lunch to deliver class rings and graduation announcements. 

Cap and Gown

Graduation announcements were delivered last Friday, and Caps and Gowns will be delivered this Friday, April 19th. For students with unpaid fees, caps and gowns will be held with the bursar until payment arrangements are made, and final transcripts will be held until all outstanding fee balances are resolved. We work diligently with families to ensure that every students gets what they need to participate in the graduation ceremony, and we will handle any situation of this manner privately and discreetly. 

 If you have not ordered your Cap and Gown for Graduation, please visit the Graduate Services Website ASAP!

The Senior Survey is REQUIRED for all Seniors

We will remind seniors via email and announcements about the mandatory graduation survey in SchoolLinks. It is active now and can be completed. It must be completed by May 1 in order for students to be placed on our seating chart for the graduation ceremony, and even more importantly, it must be completed in order for us to know where to send a final transcript in June. If students have questions about this, please stop by the counseling office.  These are important in order to send your final transcript to the correct destination and confirm your participation in the Graduation Ceremony on May 17^th.

Diploma Status

Counselors will be sending you an important email next week with information about your diploma status and other important topics. Please check your school email regularly!  

Graduation Speech at Large Tryouts

Each year, we offer seniors an opportunity to try out to give a speech at graduation. Some years we have had a few speeches, and other years we have not added speeches. This year we will hold Speech At Large tryouts for interested students on Monday, April 15 at 3 PM in the Auditorium. 

Graduation Performance Try-Outs

If you have attended recent Lakota East graduations, we have been blessed with top-notch student performances in past years, and this is a tradition that will continue this year. Students who are interested in singing at graduation, either as a soloist or in a group, will have the opportunity to try out after school tomorrow, Thursday, April 17, at 3 PM in the choir room. 

Attention all senior athletes guaranteed a spot on a collegiate roster next year!

The athletic department will be hosting our annual Signing Day Ceremony on April 26th at 7:30am. Please RSVP for the ceremony by emailing Ms. Meiring or by stopping in the Athletic Office. All participants must RSVP by April 12th!

Senior Nights for Athletics

April 10 - Track - arrive at 4:30pm
April 18 - Girls Lacrosse - arrive at 6:20pm
April 19 - Softball - arrive at 4:30pm
April 25 - Boys Lacrosse - arrive at 6:40pm
May 2 - Boys Volleyball - arrive at 6:00pm

Prom Reminders

Next Saturday, May 4,  we will host our 2024 Junior/Senior Prom at the Sharonville Convention Center from 8 PM to 11 PM. Tickets will be available for purchase thru NEXT THURSDAY AT 3 PM! One additional reminder for our students who intend to bring guests - guest forms need to be turned in and approved well in advance of this deadline so that you have time to log into Hometown Ticketing with your guest code to purchase tickets. We do not want anyone to miss out, but attending such an event does require planning, and it requires some legwork on our end to close everything out and be fully prepared which is why there is a deadline. We will make reminder announcements.

Finally, we plan to have a short senior meeting next Thursday during Hawk Time to review a few reminders and expectations for this event as well as a few other things to remember. We want this to be a great time for all and want everyone to make safe, smart decisions. 

Custom Medals Request

Students are invited to wear ONE custom made medal to represent a club or organization in which they have participated and is meaningful to them. All medals will be on a black and white ribbon and will be worn during the ceremony, and the medals are yours to keep. If you would like to wear a medal representing a club or an activity, please select from the provided. Please note: only select 1 medal from the list. If you select multiple medals, we will use the first one selected as your request.  As a reminder, the club needs to be recognized as an official club by the school. Students who do not request a custom medal will be provided with a Thunderhawk medal to wear.

This is a tradition that we started in 2021 that aligns with two of the four Lakota District Core Mission Values - #WEarePersonalized and #WEareInThisTogether. We want to honor our students by allowing them to choose a medal that is specifically meaningful to them while also maintaining a uniformity of our ceremony. We believe this tradition meets both of these objectives. 

Within the email, there is a link for students to make the custom request. We will close this request form on May 1st so that Herff-Jones has ample time to prepare the medals for graduation.

Senior Semester Exams

Seniors in full year classes will be exempted from exams unless the exam may be required in order to pass the class for the semester. For semester classes that were offered during the first semester, seniors will need to take final exams. This is due to the fact that seniors in semester classes for the first semester had to take exams for those classes; thus we will require that seniors follow the same process for second semester courses. Seniors will take exams during Modified Block Days on May 8 and 9. 

End of Year Ceremony Update

As mentioned last week, our Senior Awards Ceremony will take place on Thursday, April 25 at 6:30 PM in the Main Campus gymnasium. Invitations will be sent to the students and families of all students who are being recognized during that event. Also as mentioned earlier, we are aware of a couple of conflicts that occur on that evening. After reaching out, unfortunately we are unable to reschedule those events, and it is not practical for us to move the awards ceremony. We also shared that this is an issue every year due to the very tight schedule of spring events. 

Our athletics department did make a change only to issue a retraction later in the day regarding today's scheduled senior recognition for track. Due to inclement weather, today’s recognition at the track meet has been postponed, and it was originally stated that our track seniors would be recognized at halftime of the home April 25 lacrosse match vs. Lakota West. Due to the conflict with senior awards, this change was retracted, and they are working on finding a time to recognize this outstanding group of athletes and their families.

Finally, due to low participation, the district’s Military Commitment Ceremony, scheduled for Tuesday, April 23, has been canceled. This event has been reinvented as an in-school event at each high school, and East will recognize and honor their seniors who will serve their country on Wednesday, April 24 at 1 PM. Our counselors are working with these students to provide specific details. 

The Top 25 Recognition Reception will take place immediately before this event at 5:30 PM in the Innovation Hub. In past years this event has lasted between an hour and fifteen minutes to an hour and half. It is our goal to be finished by 8 PM so that families can go out and celebrate if they choose to do so!

The Parade of Graduates - May 14

The Parade of Graduates has become a celebrated tradition for Lakota staff, students, parents and community members. 

On May 14th, 2024, graduating seniors from both Lakota East and Lakota West high schools are invited to parade the hallways at one of Lakota's elementary schools dressed in their caps and gowns. Many of them return to the buildings they once attended. The younger students line the halls, cheering on and celebrating the seniors as they pass and as a parting souvenir, give each senior hand-written letters of advice and encouragement. 

This initiative, hosted by the Champions for Change program through Lakota's Outreach, Diversity & Inclusion department, is designed to celebrate the achievements of our graduating students. It also supports the work of Lakota's Champions to build a stronger environment of inclusiveness and achievement for students of all different backgrounds, inspiring our youngest learners to see our graduates as role models. A video is linked below for families and students to have a glimpse of the experience of our past seniors.

Interested Seniors should complete the permission slip no later than April 12, 2024. If you have any questions please contact Nina Inzero (Nina.Inzero@Lakotaonline.com)

Video: https://youtu.be/4E5lLhYsg_8

Senior Car Show - May 14

Graduation Ticket Request Form

As shared last week, the link for graduation tickets is live. All attendees do need a ticket for admission, and there is no cost for tickets. We are also allowing all graduates to request as many tickets as they would like, and we will continue to monitor the number of tickets that are requested. Xavier does limit what they provide to us, and last year we did not reach that number, so we believe that we can accommodate all requests. In the event that we do reach the allotted number, we will cap what we can provide to each family at 13 tickets, and we will make this announcement on May 10 if we must limit the number provided so that all graduates can have loved ones in attendance. Here is the link to request tickets: 

2024 Graduation Ticket Request

Also as mentioned last week, Xavier is offering suite rentals for graduation ceremonies this year at a cost of $500 per suite. Each suite can accommodate up to 14 people. Here is a link to suite rental packages: Xavier Gameday Suites. Tickets will still be required for entry into Cintas Center, so please complete the request form if you rent a suite. 

Change in Suite Rental Contact

It was mentioned during an earlier Senior Edition T-Hawk Newsletter that families can rent a suite for graduation through Xavier University. We were notified today that their contact for rentals has changed. Here is the new contact information: Candice Elkin - elkinc@xavier.edu.  

Graduation Attire

As the event gets closer, we will continue to share more specifics about the ceremony itself, but we know that since it may require families to make arrangements and because we have received requests for this information, we promised to share attire requirements this week. Here is the information that we have at this time regarding this:

1. All participants must wear the official Lakota East Graduation Cap and Gown. These are rental garments which must be returned immediately following our ceremony. Parents are  encouraged to take all photos prior to the ceremony.  
2. Males will wear black caps and gowns. Gentlemen should wear a white shirt, dark slacks, dark socks and  dark shoes. Jeans, shorts, tennis shoes and sandals are not permitted. 
3. Females will wear white caps and gowns. Ladies need to wear light dress shoes. Females should plan to  wear white or light pastel clothing under their gown. Clothing with a print will tend to bleed through the  white gown and affect the quality of pictures.
4. Due to the fact that our ceremony is a formal ceremony, we do not permit decorating of caps. 
5. All students are provided with a medal to wear at graduation. In 2021, we introduced a new tradition of allowing students to request a custom medal with the logo of any official club or organization in which students participated in during their time at Lakota East. We will be sharing this link with seniors during an email after we return from break and will also follow up with discussion at an upcoming senior meeting. 

We understand that there may be additional questions that arise regarding attire and other requirements, and we continue to work through some additional details about the ceremony itself. Our ceremony is a formal ceremony, and the guidelines that have been shared above are consistent with the same standards that have applied in previous years.  

Graduation Pictures from LifeTouch

Graduate Yard Signs for Seniors

The PTSO will be selling yard signs for seniors through our website this spring through Sunday, March 31. Please visit the following link to place an order: Senior Yard Sign Order.

Preview of the next Senior T-Hawk News - Senior Exam Information, Senior Awards Info and Cintas Center Policies - This will be sent on Wednesday, April 3rd