Looking for the Class of 2024 graduation ceremonies and live stream links? Please click here to visit our graduation ceremonies page.
Financial Aid
Financial Aid and Funding Post-Secondary Education
Graduation
Guidance for graduation caps and cords
Graduation Caps
Decorating your cap? Graduation caps will be reviewed/approved in the staging lines (at Civic) by our school staff.
Here are some good options for your cap:
- Thank a parent, grandparent, family member, teacher, friend
- Recognize the college, tech school, or apprenticeship attending next fall
- Graduation year
- Branch of the military
- Cultural or traditional family symbols
Words and symbols must be consistent with our key strategies that create a safe and engaging learning environment.
Graduation cords
Students will wear caps and gowns for graduation, and some may wear cords. We recognize these three cords in the graduation program.
- Gold honor cords are given to any student who has a 3.5 GPA or higher.
- Blue cords given out for AVID.
- Black ribbon medals are for students who have earned a seal of biliteracy.
Some students may have additional cords to celebrate other accomplishments for clubs or activities, flower leis and/or other cultural or significant accessories. The tradition of graduation is for the graduating class to wear similar attire to symbolize many parts of the whole class. We appreciate the sentiment of this tradition and we also understand some may choose to add embellishments. We ask that they students do not impact or take away from the day’s events or other students’ experiences.
Class of 2021 and Beyond
English 4.0Required: English 101 and English 201, and other courses in reading, writing, and communication.
Mathematics 3.0Required: Algebra I, Geometry and Algebra II (Algebra II may be met by another third year math course based on Personalized Pathway/High School and Beyond Plan including parent/guardian signature). See counselor for details.
World Language 2.0Required: Two credits in the same language (e.g., two years of Spanish, two years of French, two years of German, etc.). Credits may be met through Personalized Pathway/High School and Beyond Plan and district waiver process.
Science 3.0Expected sequence: Biology, Chemistry, Physics. Required: Two credits must be in a lab science. (Third credit may be met by a course that aligns with Personalized Pathway/High School and Beyond Plan including parent/guardian signature). See counselor for details.
Social Studies 3.0Required: Contemporary World History/Geography/Problems; US History/Government; 0.5 credits of Civics (content may be embedded in another social studies course); 0.5 credits of Social Studies elective.
Health and Fitness 2.0Required: Health (0.5 credit) andPE(1.5 credits).
Visual and Performing Arts 2.01.0 credit may be substituted as part of a Personalized Pathway/High School and Beyond Plan including parent/guardian signature.
Career and TechnicalEducation 1.5Required: 0.5 Technical Literacy, which is a new course to learn technical skills necessary to be successful in other high school and post-high school endeavors. One credit may be an Occupational Education course that meets the definition of an exploratory course as described in theCTEprogram standards.
Electives 9.5
30RequiredHigh School Credits
Class of 2025 graduation communication
Message sent to 12th grade families Sept. 17
A message from Bellingham, Options, Sehome and Squalicum high schools
Dear seniors and families,
We have decided to tentatively schedule graduation for the class of 2025 for Friday, June 6 and Saturday, June 7 at Civic Stadium. We will share more details as the date gets closer.
We received positive feedback from recent graduates, families and staff about their experience at Civic, and we are hoping to continue our new tradition for the class of 2025.
We have also learned through snow days and the pandemic that our school calendar and plans sometimes need to change. We ask that you hold off on finalizing your plans for graduation until the end of February or early March (e.g. buying plane tickets for grandparents) in case we need to modify dates.
Please take note of these important dates for 2025:
- Late February/early March: we plan to finalize our graduation dates and last day for seniors, if not before. Again, please do not make travel plans or other arrangements just yet; if the school year gets extended, then our graduation ceremonies would likely be the following week. If a day of school gets canceled after early March, graduation dates likely would not be affected to allow staff and families time to plan and out-of-town guests to make travel arrangements.
- Thursday, June 5 is tentatively the last day for seniors with graduation rehearsals and other end-of-year events during the school day Friday, June 6. This could change if we have any snow days.
- Thursday, June 5 is tentatively set for our event celebrating graduates of our Community Transitions program at Depot Market Square.
- 6 p.m. Friday, June 6 is the tentative time/date for Options High school graduation ceremony at Civic.
- Saturday, June 7 is the tentative graduation date for Bellingham (10 a.m.), Sehome (1 p.m.) and Squalicum (4 p.m.) high schools’ graduation ceremonies at Civic. Times are also tentative.
- Please avoid making plans for the week of June 9 or you may miss the final days of school and/or end-of-year activities if dates change due to snow.
There is no perfect answer when it comes to school schedules, including graduation dates. We appreciate your flexibility and will send additional updates as needed.
Let us know if you have any questions.
Thanks,
Marty Atkins, Katie Jones, Sonia Cole and Laurel Peak
Principals of Bellingham, Options, Sehome and Squalicum high schools
