In the most recent years, the graduating class had their ceremonies at the Ford Center at The Star, however, seniors at Liberty, Heritage, Panther Creek, Emerson, Independence, and Memorial High School are graduating at Comerica Center instead, the site of previous school graduations.

The use of two venues is a result of the district’s calendar and when teacher contracts expire according to Frisco ISD Executive Director of Student Services Paige Hoes 

“This year, we are graduating our students the weekend before Memorial Day. So for our high schools, it’s imperative that our teachers are at graduation ceremonies,” Hoes said. “They serve in a variety of capacities, and just ensure we have a really great event for all of our students and so we really needed to get graduation done while teachers were still on contract. So starting Memorial Day weekend, that Saturday and Sunday, our teachers are off contract so we had to figure out a way to get graduation completed by the time teachers are done.”

Additionally, The Star and Comerica Center do not open to events until the evening, putting graduations in a time crunch. 

“At the Ford Center, you can’t graduate students during the day, because they’re running businesses, so the earliest we can start ceremonies at the Star is 5:30 p.m.,” Hoes said. “So we can fit in two in one evening. Comerica is the same thing, we can only do the evening events, and you have to have a little bit of time in between ceremonies. So we’ll have a total of six ceremonies at each facility.”

Faced with a calendar crunch that led to the change, Frisco ISD looked at data from previous years, and assessed class sizes as well in determining which schools would graduate where. 

“We looked at who historically did Sunday graduations in the past,” Hoes said. “Sometimes it’s harder to have a Sunday graduation, but we also looked at size of classes, and so those smaller classes do naturally fit a little but better at Comerica due to it being a smaller facility.”

The Comerica Center’s capacity is 6,000 while The Star is double that at 12,000. 

The facilities used were not the only changes made to graduation days as students will now ride a district bus to their graduation venue. Students will not have a shuttle back to school and will have to find transportation for after the event. 

“We also have to have transportation services to both facilities since there are businesses going on in those areas during the day,” Hoes said. “We try to reduce our traffic, so having bus drivers is another essential piece, which would be a challenge on Memorial Day weekend, so having them on Thursday and Friday night would be a great help to us on successfully executing our programs.”

The change in venue isn’t something senior Sophia Hung is particularly excited about. 

“It was definitely disappointing to hear,” senior Sophia Hung said. “I’ve been to graduations for previous classes and I was looking forward to having mine at The Star as well. It just sucks that our year is the year that graduations change. The big lawn in front of The Star is great to take photos after, and the area has great restaurants and just more parking space.” 

For senior Nolan Sow, however, graduating at Comerica could be just as good, if not better.

“It never really mattered where the ceremony was held for me,” Sow said. “Comerica may be smaller, but our class size was never even that big to begin with. Because it’s smaller, I think it’ll just be easier to get around and navigate.”

AP Psychology teacher Tim Johannes, a teacher at The Nest since its opening, believes that The Star may be too big, and Comerica provides a more cozy setting. 

“When we went to Comerica, it was a more intimate setting,” Johannes said. “It was definitely limited in the amount of space there was, but there was always enough room for everybody. It seemed like Liberty High School filled up the whole stadium which was kind of cool. At The Star, there’s obviously lots of space, and it felt like not even half of it was filled.” 

Hoes acknowledges that frustrations but ensures that everything was done for the best and smoothest ceremonies. 

“We’ve had some really positive feedback and then we’ve had some concerns,” Hoes said. “Our response is that we’re always going to work hard to provide an excellent experience for all our Frisco ISD students. And because we’ve worked with Comerica in the past we know we can execute that there as well as the Ford Center.”

Johannes, in addition to being a teacher attending graduations, has been in the shoes of a parent at Comerica. 

“So one of my kids graduated at Comerica,” Johannes said. “It was pretty cool. You’re closer [to your kids] at Comerica.” 

But the Comerica Center Johannes remembers isn’t the same as what Redhawks will encounter on Friday as the venue recently underwent multiple renovations. 

“The experience I personally think will be great for the students and all involved,” Comerica Center A/V Manager Alex Salgado said. “With all our new infrastructure as well as a top-of-the-line audio system, the overall sound and look will be something to behold. Anyone returning should expect beautiful and comfortable chairs throughout the arena, new food items coming from RS3 (our hospitality team), as well as great overall productions going forward.”