It has been 13 years. Thirteen long years of first-day-of-school jitters, new backpacks, first crushes, homework, dances, sports — the list goes on and on. All these events lead up to pinnacle of our schooling experience: high school graduation.

Many students spend countless hours daydreaming about the day they will walk across the stage to get their diploma. They look forward to a grand event in honor of them and their classmates celebrating the achievement of finishing their “four-year sentence.”

Since the beginning of Perry’s history, graduation has been held at John Wrenn Stadium. This is not just a stadium though. It is a place where Perry’s school spirit lives on, from cheering in the student section, to playing on the field, and even a few spirit assemblies.

Does it not seem fitting that a place that has been the setting for so much memory and feeling during high school, be the place of closure for a senior’s final high school experience?

Principal Dan Serrano commented that he has “never been at a graduation that is not on campus.” This is home. We should not treat graduation as an “away-team-experience.” We have the home court advantage at John Wrenn. This is our turf.

Some argue that there is just no room at Perry for graduation. Our parking lot is certainly too small, and ole John Wrenn is bursting at the seams as it is. Let us not forget that we live in Arizona, so yes, it is going to be warm on the night of graduation.

While our parking lot is decidedly too small, we do have options. Both the Gilbert Soccer Complex on Greenfield Road and Weinberg Elementary have offered their parking lots for the night of graduation so that there are more options to park.

The next best option is the ASU stadium, a far more accommodating option, but with a few catches. Although the price point for graduation is almost the same wherever graduation is held, that is no reason to jump the gun and make a break for Sun Devil Stadium.

“ASU will not do more than two graduations in a day,” commented Serrano. “As soon as the first one is over, they make everyone leave. Here, you can hang out [afterwards] for an hour, so there’s pros and cons.”

Other schools in the district, such as Hamilton and Basha, hold their graduation ceremonies at ASU, but are forced to leave quickly and quietly in order to prepare for the next schools coming in.

To combat the heat, as well as the “space complaints,” Principal Serrano has a solution. “We have live streaming in the gym and the auditorium because some people don’t like the heat.”

Who wants to spend graduation at a school where the students have no emotional connection, and where the social aspect of graduation is completely eliminated? That is not the way for seniors, and their families and friends to end the biggests parts of our lives thus far.

John Wrenn is home. John Wrenn is family. John Wrenn is Perry High School.