Welcome to the Student Affairs Office

Below is a Graduation/Baccalaureate memo.  Please take time to read this information, it covers everything you need to know about Graduation and Baccalaureate Mass.  There will be no formal Senior parent meeting this year, as all of the information to be presented can be found in the memo below. 

 

 

Cardinal O’Hara High School

1701 South Sproul Road

Springfield, PA 19064

610-544-3800

www.cohs.com

 

OFFICE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS

 

MEMORANDUM

TO:                 All Seniors

FROM:           Mrs. Commale

DATE:            May 23, 2019

RE:                  Graduation

 

Everyone involved with graduation is working very hard to make it a memorable occasion for you and your family. Please read the information in this memo carefully. It will explain to you the entire Baccalaureate and Graduation process. The ceremonies should be joyous but also solemn.  I would ask you to cooperate with the directions you will receive from the Master of Ceremonies during both Baccalaureate and Commencement, particularly those regarding when applause is appropriate.  We hope to join with you in making graduation an occasion we all remember fondly for many years to come.

 

Baccalaureate Mass – June 4, 2019

On Monday, June 3, we will rehearse for the Baccalaureate Mass. At 7:50 a.m. you should be in your homeroom. You will be called to the auditorium after roll is taken. We will briefly review the entire graduation process. This will be followed by Baccalaureate practice.

At the end of Monday’s practice, you will receive your cap and gown and your tickets if all of your obligations are fulfilled. If you fit into one of the following categories, you will not receive your cap and gown and will not be permitted to participate in graduation:  those who have subject failures, owe tuition or fees, owe a Kairos balance, owe anything to the Athletic Office, owe state books, owe absentee cards, owe detention time or those who are not otherwise cleared by the Student Services Office.

Monday evening we will have the Senior Farewell from 5:30-8:00 p.m. It will be held in the North Courtyard. The event will end with the showing of the End of the Year video in the auditorium. 

On Tuesday, June 4, seniors will start their day in their homeroom places in the auditorium at 7:50 a.m. We will have an Academic and Activities Awards Assembly.  This will be followed by rehearsal for the Commencement at Neumann University. 

For all graduation rehearsals and ceremonies, you are reminded that all school regulations concerning appropriate behavior are in force. All students should be in uniform. Any student using or under the influence of any illegal substance or guilty of any other major infraction will be prevented from participating in the ceremony and diplomas and transcripts will be withheld pending a disciplinary review. 

On Tuesday evening, June 4, you should be in the Cathedral Chapel by 6:15 p.m. The Chapel is to the left of the Cathedral as you face the front entrance. You will sit in the pews according to homeroom in the way you were arranged in the practice. The procession will begin at 6:45 p.m. The doors to the Cathedral will open for your guests at 6:15 p.m. The graduates will process up the center aisle and sit in the center sections.  Programs will be in the pews. The ushers will direct you at Communion time. At the end of Mass, the graduates will process out of the Cathedral and across 18thStreet. Your families can meet you there.

• Please remind your guests that no one will be admitted to any of the graduation ceremonies without tickets (two tickets for Baccalaureate Mass, 6 tickets for graduation at The Mirenda Center at Neumann University). If you do not need all your tickets please return them to the Student Affairs Office.

 

• No student dismissed from O’Hara or who left O’Hara for discipline reasons is permitted to attend the Baccalaureate Mass or Graduation ceremony.

 

Graduation – June 5, 2019

On Wednesday, June 5, you should be at The Mirenda Center at Neumann University no later than 9:00 a.m. At 9:35 a.m. seniors will begin lining up. Lines begin to move at 9:45 a.m.

1.  Doors to The Mirenda Center open at 9:15 a.m. for all guests. Only those with tickets will be admitted. Ushers will distribute programs and direct people to seating.  Students in A1-A4 will be seated on the left side of the Mirenda Center and students in A5-A8 will be seated on the right side.  Use this guide to choose which side of the Mirenda Center that you want to sit. 
2. Just before 10:00 a.m., Mrs. Casey will address the audience and explain Graduation expectations for the graduation audience.   Flag bearers move to the center aisle. The Academic Procession begins. Seniors move into the rows of chairs in groups of 15. As the graduates arrive at their seats, they remain standing until instructed to be seated after the singing of the National Anthem. Stage group proceeds to stage and remains standing.
3. After all graduates are in place, the music stops, Fr. Masson begins the ceremony with the Prayer, and then the National Anthem will be sung.
4. Salutatory Address, Presentation of Awards.
5. Calling of names and Distribution of Diploma Folders.

Please Note:  Applause will wait until the conclusion of ALLgraduates names being read aloud.  We respectively ask all audience members adhere to this tradition so that all graduates names are heard by their families. Thank you for your consideration.

 

• First row of A1 stands and walks to stage steps on the left. A5 begins the same process on the opposite side walking to the stage steps on the right. Ushers will tell each row when to stand and walk to the stage steps. Each graduate waits at the top of the steps until his or her name is called. Then he or she walks across the stage, receives the folder, walks down the center steps and returns to his or her seat down the center aisle.

1. Valedictory Address
2. President’s Remarks and introduction of Presider, Presider’s Remarks.
3. The principal walks to the podium and confers the status of graduates. The cymbals sound followed by a brief moment of spontaneous exuberance.
4. Everyone sings the Alma Mater.
5. The dignitaries leave the stage and recess down the center aisle.
6. Graduates begin to file out, following the directions given at practice, proceed around the bleachers and back to the auxiliary gym to receive your diploma.
7. Graduates receive diplomas and are directed out to the front of The Mirenda Center. 
8. There is NO SMOKINGon the grounds of Neumann University, this includes cigar smoking, vapes, etc.

 

Graduation Dress Regulations

Please read the following information carefully. Failure to follow the dress guidelines for Graduation may result in you not participating in graduation exercises and/or not receiving your diploma.

Remember that our graduation consists of 2 ceremonies, The Baccalaureate Mass and The Commencement Exercises. Attendance at both ceremonies is required.

 

Here are the dress regulations for Baccalaureate/Graduation

• Boys - dress shirt, tie, dark pants, belt, dress socks and dress shoes
• Girls – dress, blouse and skirt, dress shoes (High heels and platforms are not recommended, and please, no plastic shoes or flip-flops.)
• Arrive wearing your gown and hood (no cap) at the Cathedral Chapel for Baccalaureate on Tuesday, June 4
• Arrive wearing your cap and gown and hood at Neumann University on Wednesday, June 5, NO DECORATION ON CAP!
• You may not carry anything during either ceremony.
• No corsages, flowers, balloons, signs, cardboard cut outs, noise makers, etc. before or during either ceremony
• No inappropriate materials
• Nothing of value should be brought into or left in Neumann before Graduation, or the Cathedral Chapel before Baccalaureate.This includes phones, cameras, purses, etc
• No gum chewing
• No cell phones
• Male students must be clean-shaven
• Male students may not wear earrings
• No exaggerated fashions or styles such as nose rings or piercings on the face or tongue