Mars Area to vote on graduation location
ADAMS TWP — Mars Area School Board approved a resolution Wednesday, Dec. 6, to vote on a location for the high school’s graduation this year.
The resolution proposed the Mars Athletic Complex as the new location for the ceremony, with a vote planned for their next meeting — Jan. 9.
Principal Lindsay Rosswog, Mars Area High School, said graduation was last held at the complex in 2004. In previous years, it was held in the high school’s auditorium, followed by its parking lots during the pandemic.
“As the graduation chair, we are open to the parking lot or the MAC as venues,” she said. “I do not think that going back to the auditorium is a good decision at this point.”
While Rosswog said there were “pros and cons” to both venues, she told the board that larger class sizes posed a challenge in holding it in the high school’s parking lots.
“There are additional spots that we used in years prior, that we did not use last year,” she said. “So it’s feasible, it’s doable, but it may feel a little bit different.”
However, Rosswog added that “within the next couple of years” the parking lots would run out of room.
But while the previous parking-lot graduations had a “party atmosphere,” she said, a graduation at the stadium would be much more “pomp and circumstance.”
Board members Anthony DePretis and Kevin Hagen were dissenting votes for the MAC proposal, supporting the more informal quality of the parking lot graduation.
Vice president Sallie Wick voiced support for the MAC proposal, suggesting it would provide a better view for families.
The final vote for the location will be held at the Mars Area Administrative Office at 7 p.m.
