Graduation Requirements April '25

Graduation Requirements can be Fun

School years can fly by fast! Your teen may think it’s been a long year, but as she gets closer to high school graduation, she’ll realize how quickly time really moves. And as a parent, I know you feel like the years lasted mere minutes (most of the time)…

In the US, April means most students are in the fourth quarter. For seniors, that means it’s time to dot i’s and cross t’s. Every class requirement has to be met. You and your teen need to verify all class requirements have been taken care of BEFORE graduation. If your teen hasn’t met with a counselor recently, have him send a quick email and ask for a credit requirement check.

You can make the call or send the email for your teen, but if he’s turned 18 during the school year, you may not be able to receive the information. Senior year includes a lot of changes for you and your teen.

If you don’t have a senior this year, it is still wise to stay on top of requirements. Keeping solid scores in required classes opens up opportunities for more electives and even possible internships, work-study programs, or apprenticeships as an upperclassman.

Besides class requirements, a lot of high schools have additional graduation requirements. A high school I’m familiar with in Colorado requires students to read 2,000 pages (500 pages a year) besides classroom assignments. This school believes reading is something that should happen outside of school, too. The students have to bring the books to school and a teacher quizzes them over the content and signs off on the number of pages read if they believe the student read the book.

Students can begin reading and accumulating pages as freshmen.

Don’t let your teen let a requirement like this wait until the last minute. Encourage your teen to be aware of requirements and to complete them before the last minute. I have unfortunately tutored more than one teen in danger of not graduating for MANY reasons…

Reading is only one requirement I’ve heard of. At another school, students are required to complete 20 hours of volunteer work before graduating. Volunteering is an activity that some younger teens do before they’re able to work for money. A good volunteer has caught the eye of more than one potential future employer.

If your teen has any idea what he might like to do after graduation, volunteering in that field might be a great opportunity before investing money in college just to find out he doesn’t really like it. Volunteering, whether it’s required or not, is a good experience that can be included on college applications, resumes, or even as part of a college or scholarship essay.

Plus, volunteering is a way for your teen to learn. A high school in Kansas began a program with Habitat for Humanity working on houses in their community. There were so many volunteers from the student body that the school now offers a construction program that builds a house each year and is able to sell the houses and has become self-sustaining.

Students are able to do carpentry and roofing. They are able to work with and observe plumbers and electricians. Programs like these born from a volunteer effort give students the chance to actually experience potential careers, not just read about them or perform informational interviews.

Besides reading and volunteering, another requirement that some schools have is that each graduating senior must have participated in a minimum of one extracurricular activity. That activity could be student council or peer tutoring. It could be a sport or a club. Yet other schools have testing requirements when it comes to the ACT and SAT. This ensures students have a test score to submit, and it’s a way for schools to see how their students stack up against other schools instead of or in addition to state assessments.

Sometimes parents and/or teens get frustrated with these added requirements, but I want you to know they have value.

In the past couple of weeks, I’ve been reminded why these extracurricular activities matter.

For two weeks beginning near the end of February and ending on March 9th, I hosted my annual Love to Learn event. Expert after expert shared the importance of extracurricular activities. Some teens will be able to win scholarships for participating in their activity at the college level. Others will be able to write about experiences in essays that show why they will be a great fit for the universities they apply to. Some teens will find an interest or passion they can continue after graduation.

Extracurricular activities allow your teen to show her uniqueness. She may not be a leader in class, but when she’s on the softball field, she brings the team together. You may not think your son has an aggressive bone in his body until he participates in Robotics Club. Sometimes it’s out of the classroom that your teen shines.

I’ve been working with a high school freshman lately. He’s a great kid, and as we work through study skills, he’s attentive and polite. Week to week, when I question him, he reports success with the study skills, and I’m pleased. But this week, volleyball came up in our lesson, and he really perked up. He became animated as he told me about his team making it to the state finals. He reported that they didn’t win, but that it didn’t matter. They had made it to State!

This young man hasn’t decided what he will do in the future, but he’s learning study skills which are teaching him HOW to learn. Those study skills will make any future career he chooses a success. In addition to that knowledge, he needs to try different things and find other activities that bring him the joy he found in volleyball.

Another young man I know was in Detroit during March. His bowling team qualified for the NAIA National Bowling Tournament. His mama is a friend of mine - basically an aunt since she’s known my mama so long! My aunt has supported her son’s endeavors as he’s grown up, whether that was baseball or bowling. As he’s a college senior who will graduate in May, she said this event was a little bittersweet. She will miss watching him compete. Yet this extracurricular activity provided him with scholarship funds to go to college and is an activity he plans to continue, not as a professional, but as an enjoyable pastime to share with friends.

Sometimes the “why” of these additional graduation requirements isn’t immediately apparent. They may seem more of a burden than a bonus. Give them a chance. It may be that trying something new is what lets your teen find out who he really wants to be.

I wish you and your teen a wonderful end to the school year. It’s not over until it’s over : )

Forever Learning,

Jessyka Coulter,

CEO & Founder of Ace Cookie Tutoring

Your Teen’s Favorite Study Buddy