The Class of 2026 will be celebrated Friday evening, June 5 at 7:00 p.m. The ceremony is currently slated to be outdoors at Todd Field, but the weather forecast has officials and parents hoping and praying for a dry night. As of Monday afternoon, the forecast is calling for about half an inch of rain that will affect roughly 60% of the area.
The ceremony at Todd Field allows significantly more people to attend than if the ceremony is moved to the High School Field House. The decision is expected to be made by school officials around 1:00 p.m. Friday afternoon.
If the ceremony is moved from Todd Field to the HHS Field House, attendance will likely be capped at four guests per graduate based on the previous times the change has been made. That also means the event will become ticketed.
If it stays at Todd Field, families should be prepared to park on the local streets and be ready to walk a decent distance. One big mistake is underestimating the time it takes to walk from the car to the ceremony. Arrive early as this is the most vehicles that will be parked around Todd Field all year.
The flow of the ceremony is quite impressive, the HHS staff members who facilitate the ceremony have it down, and they fly through the names. The ceremony is always started by the band with long grand march of the graduates, then the choir joins in the performance. Part of the ceremony is honoring staff and of course, the speeches.
The event is live streamed on Hastings Community Television with the 2025 commencement video being roughly one hour, 37 minutes.