Seniors

September 16, 2025

 

Dear Parents/Guardians:

 

Congratulations! Your child has reached a major crossroad in education: their final year in high school!!! Though we are celebrating their transition into adulthood and/or college life throughout this school-year, we want to remind our kids of a very important life lesson: everything comes at a cost. The Department of Education, unfortunately, makes no financial provision for any senior class activity–not even graduation ceremony! For this reason, students and their families must pay for senior activities.

 

We are planning various events to celebrate your child’s final year in high school and we want to ensure that you are aware of the costs associated with these activities. As you budget for specific senior expenses, please note that all payments are nonrefundable. There will be deadlines for all payments, which are outlined on the second page of this letter, and you and your family can choose to participate in additional senior activities outside of “Senior Dues”. There will be some payments that you will make directly to the school (e.g. “Senior Dues”); however, there are activities/services that you will pay for directly through certain contracted vendors (e.g. “Senior Pictures”). We hope
that a detailed breakdown of senior-related expenses and a schedule for payment deadlines will help families plan and prepare for their child’s senior year accordingly.

 

We are also asking that each student, along with his/her/their parent/guardian, carefully read the attached “Senior Contract”, sign it and return it to Mrs. Smath. In an effort to be as transparent as possible, we want students and parents to be aware that certain behaviors and violations of school policies can jeopardize a student’s ability to
participate in senior activities, including graduation ceremony. This agreement specifically states that if a student is found to be ineligible to participate in any senior activity, due to negative conduct, money will not be refunded for any paid activity– this is inclusive of commencement and prom. Excelsior expects our seniors to be leaders and model representatives of their families and our school.

 

Thank you again for partnering with us and allowing us to learn with and from your child. Though we will miss your child dearly when they graduate, we are grateful for being part of their academic journeys. We’re excited to celebrate with them this school-year and look forward to witnessing more of their accomplishments!