Allow students to be seated together during Mayer's 8th grade graduation ceremony.

We, the 8th grade students of Oscar Mayer Elementary School, are asking for a change to our graduation ceremony seating to allow students to be seated together. Mayer has asked for our participation in many school decisions but not for our own graduation ceremony. We have been friends and classmates for years, in many cases 11 of our 14 years alive. We should be allowed to sit together, just like we did on our first day at Mayer, at Walkathon pep rallies, or at class music concerts. But at graduation, the ceremony that ends our time here, we are supposed to be seated with our parents? This makes it extremely difficult to enjoy some last moments together as a whole class. We haven't been with our entire class in over a year and to be all together would really make graduation special. We have been following CPS Covid policy guidelines while sitting with our peers for months. Why would that have to stop now? We have followed this policy in our classrooms and we are certain we can follow it on the blacktop. We have also followed the policy during recess and gym and at the 8th grade picnic, we are allowed to be unmasked. Other CPS schools in our network, Burley and Hawthorne and others, are allowing all graduates to sit together at their graduation ceremonies so we don't understand why we can't be allowed to do the same. Our parents are supportive and would like the students to sit together, too.  We are willing to sit wherever you need to make it happen. It is unfair to not try to find a way to seat us together but if you were to try, we can help you. Students deserve to finish their time at Mayer seated (safely) with the people who they have been walking the halls with every day since we started here. Thank you for your consideration and we look forward to hearing your response.

Eliza Beresh    Contact the author of the petition