Commencement

June 13 MANDATORY Graduation Rehearsal, Class Photo and Senior Luncheon, 8:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m.

8:00 a.m. Class photo. Students meet in the Great Hall.

9:00 a.m. Rehearsal at Trinity. The school provides transportation to/from the cathedral and will return to campus for the Senior Luncheon.

11:00 a.m. Senior Luncheon followed by a dessert bar, lawn games, and special activities and traditions. The event concludes with closing remarks by the student body president, and a celebratory farewell before seniors depart to prepare for graduation.

Note to boarding families: Dorms close at 5 pm on June 13th 

Students are welcome to invite up to 8 guests, including parents. Please note, this event will be livestreamed for those unable to attend in person. RSVP is required. Please use this form to request seating. Specific seats are not reservable. Do not include your graduating senior in your count. There is space on the form to request to be added to a waitlist for additional seating. RSVP form closes June 1.

Graduating seniors and their immediate family are invited to join us for our annual Senior Family Dinner on Thursday, June 12 at 5:00 p.m. RSVP required.

We will begin with a “Mocktail” Hour with appetizers, signature mocktails, photo opportunities, and lawn games (weather permitting). Dinner will be served in the Dining Hall. This celebratory event will include a formal program with remarks offered by Head of School Michael Spencer, Head of Upper School Sarah Grenert-Funk, and faculty speaker CT Henry.

We look forward to seeing you and being together before graduation.

Please RSVP here.

Seniors will have the opportunity to decorate their caps using materials provided by the school and anything else they’d like to include (college name/mascot/colors, other words, sequins, etc).

Graduation announcements can be ordered online at Jostens.com. Announcements are delivered in the spring.

Orders for your senior's cap and gown were due by December 18. Please contact the Upper School office if you have questions, usadmin@oes.edu.

Yearbook submissions have closed. Please contact the Upper School office should you have questions, usadmin@oes.edu.

Starting this year, the school will no longer sponsor an all-night senior party following graduation. This decision was made after several years of deliberation regarding the feasibility of the event, the impact on staff and volunteers, liability and safety concerns, and our commitment to responsibly stewarding school resources. Furthermore, as we have developed and enhanced other end-of-year traditions, including the alumni induction, senior raft trip, senior celebration dinner, and commencement itself, we believe these achieve the same goals as the grad party. To ensure that students continue to enjoy the most special elements of this tradition, we will incorporate them into other planned celebrations. We are deeply grateful to the parents who have supported this tradition over the years—especially those who chaired the committee and planned the event; their dedication helped create meaningful memories for graduates and they did a wonderful job managing the budget, recruiting volunteers, and executing the event. Looking ahead, we invite anyone interested in contributing ideas to the Senior Celebration Committee, which will help plan the end-of-year events this year, to reach out to junior parents Sara Berglund and Deanna Freres.