Sharpay Evans. I remember seeing her walk on the stage at the end of High School Musical 3—then bowing her head, revealing a graduation cap bedazzled with her initials. I was so excited to one day be able to decorate my own graduation cap until it came to my attention that Venice doesn’t allow it.

Admin says it’s because they want to maintain a look of uniformity and reduce possible feelings of exclusion among students.

However, if anything, I feel as though being able to personalize our graduation outfit is a good thing. We’re living in a time that is so unique and so special that uniformity shouldn’t be a priority. 

Our school loves to highlight our diversity and our own student body’s creativity, yet we aren’t allowed to express it during one of the biggest days of our lives. 

I and many others were looking forward to seeing all of the different graduation caps at our school because it serves as a way for students to be able to highlight their own personal style.

 If someone has a passion for flowers, they should be able to decorate their graduation cap with dozens of flowers. Or, if they were excited to commit to UCLA, they should be allowed to adorn their cap with a bruin to show off their pride in their new school. 

Regardless of uniformity, we should value people’s creativity and passion instead of having everyone wear the same dull navy blue cap.