The students of Tazewell County have been asking for years to decorate our graduation caps, and this year, the students of the Class of 2017 are using our right to petition to encourage our local school board to allow us to customize our caps. We, unless there are extenuating financial circumstances, buy our own graduation caps and gowns. This means the school is not reusing them, and we are not causing the county schools any money whatsoever by choosing to decorate our caps. Many people argue that tradition is to have clean caps, that it is unprofessional or will not be done in college. However, students in Tazewell County used to be able to decorate their caps, and it seems to have been only a 20-year-or-less tradition. Also, many colleges allow the students to decorate their caps. Art is a form of expression for many students, and others would like to use an inspirational quote, a pun, other comedy about college, or just to add personalization. Although we are encouraged to be our own person, our graduation seems to have little to no differences from person to person. We are under a fairly strict dress code, and we will conform to it or we are not allowed to walk across the stage. High school is the last stage in finding ourselves before we go off to college or go to begin our time in the workforce, and with the allowance to decorate our caps, we will gain our personality without losing proffessionalism.