By Constance Burnam
The Occidentalist
Traverse City West Senior HS
1st Place
Division 2, News Writing
Diversity Coverage
Senior Mckayla Heintzelman dreams of walking the stage to receive her diploma, proof of her accomplishments for her dedication to her studies. To make that dream more colorful, she envisions wearing her cap and gown in a way that honors her heritage.
Beading one’s graduation cap is nothing new in the Native American community, but it is forbidden at the school.
“Our typical instructions for all students is to not decorate the cap in any way and that’s for two reasons,” Principal Joe Esper said. “One is philosophical; graduation is a whole school ceremony. There’s 400 graduates, it’s not about one individual standing out of the 400, and that’s why we ask kids not to do flips on stage or crawl across the stage or do things that steal attention from people around you.”
In smaller schools, beading caps is being recognized by school administrators as a legitimate form of cultural representation. Leilani Defoe from Suttons Bay High School was one of 45 students in the graduating class of 2017. She aded her cap and wore a ceremonial dress to her graduation ceremony.
“I thought that it was important for me to represent my culture while at graduation,” Defoe said. “For me, a way to do that was beading my cap. Everyone likes to decorate their cap and I thought that beading mine would be a good idea.”
Another reason for not allowing students to decorate their capes and gowns is about standardization.
“What is worn for the ceremony is standardized and that was part of the idea, like narrowing the cords,” Esper said. The school recently changed the way students can earn graduation chords. “We wouldn’t want to stop any student from doing anything that represents their culture, but with 400 students there are dozens of cultures represented. I don’t know what it would look like if students did things to each recognize their individual cultures at the graduation ceremony. That would make all the students’ dress look different again.” Esper encourages students to dress for their open house and pictures, but says the school needs to maintain consistency in the graduation ceremony. Heintzelman hopes the district will change their minds about the policy.
“ I want to bead my cap because it’s a tradition and represents my culture,” she said. “I think the district should allow us to decorate our caps so we can represent our culture. They already took our Indian Education cord, so they should allow us to represent our culture in another way.”
Cases regarding beading for graduation ceremonies have been happening around the country, most recently in California where beaded caps with feathers were prohibited from crossing the stage. In most cases, school officials say the students were disobeying policy regarding graduation. Montana has passed a law that will protect students that wish to bead or decorate their cap and gown through Senate Bill 319, which is one of the first of its kind that allows a person to wear traditional regalia and objects of cultural significance during public events.