A great deal of confusion has been spread regarding the Lakeland class of 2023’s senior presentations. Some students claim that their grade in COMM 101 allows them to skip the final. This is not the case.

In Seymour’s fifth-period class, students began to panic. While discussing the senior paper and the senior presentation, some students began to express their concerns. Many students vividly remember being told that the senior presentation would not be required for anyone who passed their speech final with a 70% or higher.

Many COMM 101 students passed with above 70% and believed that they were exempt from the senior presentation. 

In reality, anyone who got a 70% or higher on their final presentation in speech class with Ms. Hall is not required to give a senior presentation. After reaching out to Colleen Hall, I received this email, “You got a 93% on the final presentation in speech class, so you have successfully passed the presentation part of your project! Now you need to get a 70% or higher on your research paper in English.”

While this relieves a large part of the senior class, some students are annoyed at this decision. A student who would like to remain anonymous stated, “I took COMM 101 in addition to speech. I feel as if I worked harder and earned my right not to give the presentation.”

Regardless of students’ opinions, the change was made in the spring of 2020. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, many students were in the dark, and times were very uncertain. In order to provide relief from some stress, the district decided that seniors were not required to do their senior presentations at all. In order to make it more fair for fellow students, anyone who received a C or higher on their final speech no longer needed to give their presentation. Colleen Hall has a list of all the students who still need to give their senior presentations. She has sent out an email to all the seniors who still need to give their presentations. Whether it be not passing, coming from another district, or other reasons, it is still a requirement to graduate.

Asher Pack, a junior at STEM Charter Academy and a Lakeland basketball player, was never given the opportunity to skip out on his senior presentation and stated, “I think it’s cool that you guys have the chance not to have to do your presentations, I wish I had the same chance.” Recently, he has been very vocal about his experience at STEM Charter Academy, which was another reason for preferring Lakeland.