Panther pride added to graduation tradition

By Lissa Harris/ LHARRIS@CNC.COM
Thursday, February 17, 2005

Beverly High graduate Mary Ellen Fullerton still groans when she takes out her high school graduation picture from 1978.

     "It is hideous. Absolutely awful," she said, laughing.

     It's not the image of the vivacious blonde teenager in the photos that still embarrasses Fullerton 27 years later; it's the bright orange cap and gown. In '78, the school administration decided to have the students graduate in the school colors, black for the boys and orange for the girls, as a reflection of school pride.
     "It was great to have the school colors, but when the school colors make you look like Halloween, it's kind of rough. To add insult to injury, the guys got to wear black that year. They all looked like they were graduating from Harvard, and we looked like rejects from Fashion Week," she said. "After graduation, there were so many complaints that the standard answer was 'This is never going to happen again."
     But history has a tendency to repeat itself. In June, Fullerton's niece, Erica Novack, will graduate in Beverly orange.

     For the last decade or so, Beverly students have been graduating in sober black and white. This year, Beverly High School Principal Carla Scuzzarella decided to bring back the school colors.

     "When (my neice) told me, I groaned. I said 'Oh, no, not again,'" said Fullerton.
     Novack and her fellow female seniors haven't taken the news well either. Novack, along with BHS seniors Sarah Kemmer and Stephanie Rodolico, claim to have a petition with nearly 120 names of graduating seniors protesting the change.
     They are circulating a second petition just among the girls, to bring to Supt. Jim Hayes.
     Novack, a cheerleader, said she supports the idea of Beverly pride - she just doesn't want to look like a pumpkin on one of the most important days of her young life.
     "I can understand that they want more school pride, and our colors are orange and black. I'd be the first person to go down to Hurd Stadium and decorate it orange and black. Crossing over and making us part of the decorations isn't fair," she said. "I'm going to have these pictures for the rest of my life. I don't want to look at them and be resentful."
     Rodolico, whose mother also graduated in '78, agrees.
     "When we first found out, everybody thought it was a joke," she said. "The white looked so elegant. It's just a disappointment to us."
     Sheer possibilities
     Scuzzarella initially refused to comment on the matter last week but later offered explanation to the Citizen.
     Scuzzarella said she decided to switch to black and orange not just because they're Beverly's colors, but because the white gowns girls wore in years past were too sheer.
     "The white gowns caused us to have an inordinate amount of rules for what is appropriate attire under the gowns," she said. "The orange seems to be that much less restrictive. We won't have to tell them what colors they can and cannot wear underneath."
     Scuzzarella decided to change the colors last summer. She said she did not consult the students because there were none around to ask.
     The gowns have already been ordered from University Cap & Gown in Lawrence.
     While students may be upset, Scuzzarella said, she won't be changing her mind, and plans to place the same order next year.
     "Change is always difficult, for kids and adults both," she said. "Frankly, I never expected it to be a big issue."
     Student opposition to the change has been so heated that the student senate eventually held a meeting with Scuzzarella about the issue. But students say their concerns were dismissed without discussion.
     "She said there was nothing to discuss," said Senate Treasurer Laura Macomber.
     "There was no negotiation even of alternate ideas, like having the guys wear orange," said Chris Bouton, senate co-president and editor of the student newspaper, The Ledger. "We were shot down every time we brought it up. They don't take it seriously at all."
     The matter came before the School Committee meeting on Dec. 22, 2004, when President Judith Cronin told the group she'd received phone calls from parents upset about the issue. Cronin, herself a '78 Beverly graduate, said she didn't see what the fuss was about.
     While school officials are quick to dismiss student opposition to the orange gowns as foolish vanity, Macomber said, they are making it a larger issue by refusing to discuss it with the students.
     "If it's so stupid to them and so trivial, why not let us wear what we want?" she said.
     Scuzzarella urged students to just let it go.

     "Quite frankly, no one looks good in a graduation gown," she said.