On August 5th, 2019, an email was sent out discussing the decision of Issaquah High School's Graduation Committee to no longer offer or allow honor cords and stoles for their Senior graduation ceremony.

This decision is not only highly unacceptable but it is very disappointing for all the students who have worked hard to maintain high GPA's, put time and effort into volunteering for community service hours, and participating in clubs to earn various honor cords and stoles, such as the Community Service Cord and Academic Cords/Stoles. Not to mention, this is an unnecessary break in a tradition that has been going on for decades, if not more, in high school's all over the United States.

Honor cords and stoles are meant to celebrate the individual students who went above and beyond in their academic and/or extracurricular life. Not everyone is guarenteed to receive an honor cord or stole but being able to wear the graduation cap and gown is an honor in and of itself.

The honor of wearing a cord and/or a stole is reserved to the exceptional students that put in the effort to earn them and they should be allowed to show off and take pride in their hard work.

The world can not be made up of identical people, we need those who stand out among the crowd, who will work hard to fulfill their goals, and who will make the world a better place when they grow up.

This petition will be sent to students of Issaquah High School as well as their family members to gain support for this cause and stand up against the Issaquah High School's Graduation Committee.

But anyone who recognizes the injustice of this situation, not only IHS students, are more than welcome to give their signatures and pass this petition on to the next person. The more exposure this petition gets, the more likely it is that it will inspire change.

After gaining a good amount of support, I will show this petition to the principal of Issaquah High School, Andrea McCormick, and hopefully it will inspire her and the Graduation Committee to rethink and ultimately reverse their decision of banning honor cords and stoles from our Senior Graduation Ceremony.