Few things say graduation in Hawaii better than a heap of flower lei piled on a joyful teenager. But there’s one commencement necessity that towers above even that tradition: a homemade sign that screams, "I am here! Look at me! I made it!"
The idea, of course, is to help family and friends spot the graduate amid the post-ceremony chaos, thereby making it easier to deliver more lei. And what better way to attract attention than with a 10-foot-tall sign with your photograph, name, a clever slogan, some balloons and maybe even blinking lights?
During the next few weeks, graduation ceremonies statewide will showcase signs of all designs. It’s easy to picture their grinning, madcap creators because I’m one of them. On Friday my youngest daughter will graduate from Kaiser High School, and, trust me, I’ll be on the football field holding onto a huge sign to make sure everyone knows.
It will have two photos, battery-powered Christmas lights — although not enough to make the sign visible from space — and her name in tall, sparkly letters. She nixed the idea to float balloons and another photo some 10 feet above the sign because that might be too embarrassing.
That made me think: If I do find a vuvuzela, I’m not going to tell her. Also: Good thing I didn’t hire a mariachi band to tag along.
While I was dreaming up all this, I decided a bit of actual research was necessary. I started making calls.
Jonathan Okada, a 2007 ‘Iolani graduate, gave me a few guidelines drawn from the signs his father made for him and his older sister, Jamie. The two signs were so tall — "at least 10 feet" — they could be seen from anywhere on the field, he said.
Okada’s sign featured him throwing a flaming baseball — he was a pitcher on the ‘Iolani team — and his sister’s featured intersecting street signs with her name on each street.
Creativity is a huge plus, he said.
"I think being outrageous is not a bad thing when it comes to signs," said Okada, a graduate student in civil engineering at Santa Clara University. "It defines who the person is. A lot of times it shows a personality trait or a sports interests. It should relate to the person."
He drew the line at lights, which his father had suggested.
"I didn’t want to stand out too much," he said.
Graduation signs have been around for about 10 years. But in the beginning they were simple, said Kari Chung, Roosevelt High School’s student activities coordinator.
"It used to just be signs so you could find students," she said. "It wasn’t fancy. It was basic. Now it has turned into who can have the most noticeable signs. Every year gets a little more glitter."
Last year she saw her first sign with lights, which made me consider doubling the amount of lights I had bought until I remembered they were $10 a strand, batteries not included.
If she remembered the lights, how could that be a bad thing?
Over at Mid-Pacific Institute, Bill Wheeler, the school’s director of student activities, told me the use of photo enlargements has taken off in recent years. Digital cameras and easy access to inexpensive prints from places such as Costco had transformed the look and design of signs.
"With the advent of technology, you get these big elaborate signs with photos," he said. "It’s really popular. I want to say that half the graduates will have signs. It looks like they are all over the field. It’s packed with signs, some small, some huge."
Wheeler has a hillside office that overlooks the field used for graduation, and he’s made it a personal tradition of watching the post-ceremony celebration from his vantage point. The setting sun and the floodlights on the field bathe the gathering in a warm afterglow, he said.
"You can really see all the signs," Wheeler said. "It’s a festive atmosphere. It’s pretty cool."
But here’s the kicker: "I’ve seen a thousand of them, and I can’t remember a one," he said.
Then Wheeler remembered one. It read, "iGrad."
"You know, you always get a couple of signs with the boyfriend and girlfriend paired in a heart," he said. "There is always a few that somehow are able to string lights. They are pretty cool."
There they were again. Lights. He couldn’t remember what most of the signs said, but he remembered the lights.
Forget the vuvuzela. Maybe it’s not too late to add a few more lights, maybe a dozen strands, give it a Vegas look.
Oh, is she gonna be surprised!
