Pomp and circumstance for Class of 2014: 48 hours, 40 HISD graduations

Houston ISD’s Class of 2014 is big – the graduates attend a total of 42 high schools. In less than 48 hours between Friday and Sunday, the district held 40 graduation ceremonies.

Team HISD made sure that each ceremony was special for the graduates and their families. The district used 10 facilities across the city, including Reliant Arena, Reliant Stadium, and the George R. Brown Convention Center, to accommodate all of the celebrations.

[photoshelter-gallery g_id=”G0000Re3Du9hJsjE” g_name=”20140531-Grads” width=”600″ f_fullscreen=”t” bgtrans=”t” pho_credit=”iptc” twoup=”f” f_bbar=”t” f_bbarbig=”f” fsvis=”f” f_show_caption=”t” crop=”f” f_enable_embed_btn=”t” f_htmllinks=”t” f_l=”t” f_send_to_friend_btn=”f” f_show_slidenum=”t” f_topbar=”f” f_show_watermark=”t” img_title=”casc” linkdest=”c” trans=”xfade” target=”_self” tbs=”5000″ f_link=”t” f_smooth=”f” f_mtrx=”t” f_ap=”t” f_up=”f” height=”400″ btype=”old” bcolor=”#CCCCCC” ]

For the first time, the district used Wilkins Pavilion, 7525 Tidwell Road, for five ceremonies. Crews worked hard to get the facility ready, but thunderstorms caused some problems. Custodians used pumps to get water out of the parking lot and off walkways. The parking attendants braved the downpours to get students and their parents to the ceremonies quickly and safely.

There are two more graduation ceremonies to go – the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts on Tuesday and Liberty High School on Sunday.