How to Conduct Graduation Rehearsal?

You may have heard an old saying: "Practice makes perfect." We strongly recommend that you conduct graduation rehearsals. It is beneficial to students, graduation committees, administrative departments, teachers and faculty. 

The students are likely to be excited, nervous, and a little emotional about graduation. Rehearsing on this landmark occasion can help calm these emotions.

1. Rehearsal

If graduation is for children, it will take several rehearsals to get it right. For high school students, it may only take one or two attempts. It is important to arrange the line at the beginning of the ceremony.

The graduation coordinator should work with administrators and teachers to ensure they are scheduled and executed. If possible, rehearsals should be held at the graduation location. It is best to familiarize students with the actual environment.

It is helpful to familiarize students with the layout so that they will know where to enter, sit, walk, and exit. Rehearsal activities will keep students organized during the actual graduation ceremony.

Our best tip: Try to play the opening music of your choice while they practice to make the rehearsal feel more like the real thing.

2. Let the students sit

It is important to accurately match the student's seat with the name. Practice in alphabetical order, assigning (or marking) seat numbers and arranging their proper entry and exit aisles is essential.

It is vital that students know where they should be. By rehearsing graduation, students will know their assigned seats. Doing so will avoid problems in the actual ceremony.

Usually, only one student takes a short pause on the stage at a time. In larger schools, with thousands of students, the short pause may be only a second or two (so as not to keep everyone in the ceremony for a few hours or more).

It is a common practice for the entire line of students to go out in line and wait to be called to speed up the process.

Our best suggestion: Confirm the final list of graduates, and then list the students in alphabetical order.

3. Issuing the certificate cover

Receiving the certificate cover is the most important moment of rehearsal, because this is the most important moment for every student to participate in the ceremony. There are proper procedures when issuing the certificate covers.

The graduation coordinator must teach the students what to do with which hand. The student took the graduation certificate cover with one hand, and shook hands with the principal with the other hand. Both parties should be prepared to use the correct hands to avoid accidents.