Andalusia High School will have changes of venue for several of their events this year, because of the $12.5 million renovation to their stadium and auditorium.

Commencement exercises, usually held in the high school auditorium, will be held at the Kiwanis Community Center.

“The ceremony will stay the same,” Principal of AHS Daniel Shakespeare said. “The only thing changing is the venue.”

“This is just a bump in the road of progression,” Shakespeare said. “I think we can handle one year of being off campus, because it will still have the same tradition and pride that Andalusia always has.”

AHS English teacher and alumna Dawn Thompson said that even though the ceremony will be in a different place, she is not worried about the tradition being stripped away.

“I realize that it is tradition and that the seniors are disappointed,” Thompson said. “But what makes the tradition special is not the facility, but the dignified traditions of AHS that we will still have.”

Thompson said that she is ecstatic to have a new auditorium at AHS.

AHS eleventh grade English teacher Cavelle Jones has a son that will be graduating this year, and is saddened by the fact that he will not be graduating in the auditorium.

“It is very unfortunate that he can’t graduate there,” Jones said. “I have been teaching here for a long time so he has always seen graduation ceremonies take place in the auditorium, so it was finally his chance to walk across that stage. I know that this needed to be done, though, so I am still very excited to see him walk.”

Along with the graduation ceremony being the moved, Pride Day will be moved to the baseball field, Awards day will be moved to the First Baptist Church and the Homecoming assembly is still to be determined.

The stadium is expected to be completed in time for football season, but the auditorium final date is still unclear.

–Christopher Smith