MOOSEHEART, IL, May 18 - In most places where a graduating class of 24 marks its point of departure from high school, you'd expect a crowd numbering in the dozens, or 100 to 200 at the most.
But at Mooseheart, where graduation takes place on Saturday, May 22, a Fieldhouse full of Moose members from across the continent, as well as family and friends, will watch those 24 graduating seniors receive their diplomas. As many as 1,500 to 2,000 are expected to attend the graduation ceremony, which begins at 9 a.m.
"We definitely anticipate a full house at the Fieldhouse," Mooseheart Executive Director Scott Hart said. "We know that a fraternity that really believes themselves to be the extended family for these 24 graduates will be there to watch them graduate and to cheer them on as they walk across the stage."
Mooseheart High School's Commencement ceremony is among the last in a series of celebrations that take place this week on the campus. On Wednesday at 2 p.m., the school honors its best in the Honors and Awards Ceremony. Friday at 2 p.m., the campus' fifth-graders and eighth-graders will jointly celebrate their promotions to Middle School and to High School, respectively. Those ceremonies, as well as the high school graduation ceremony, are open to the public.
"For those students," Hart said, "this is a rite of passage as they move from the Elementary hallway in our school building to the Middle School hallway, or as the eighth-graders prepare to be freshmen and to begin their high school careers. Those students are ready to show they're more mature and ready to take on more responsibility."
On Saturday, friends and family will begin gathering early to get good spots on the bleachers in anticipation of the high school graduation. This year, three graduating seniors have been at Mooseheart for more than 12 years - Damion Moore, Skyler Kirby and Cody Garcia. Garcia will actually be celebrating his 13th anniversary of his entry date into Mooseheart -- May 22, 1997 -- on the day he graduates.
"It is extremely unusual that there would be a new admission in mid-May or late May given all that is usually going on here at that time," Hart said. "But that again shows the need of our kids to get to Mooseheart. When there is a need, sometimes it's an urgent need, and that's a need that we will always try to meet."
The average length of stay at graduation for this year's seniors is 5 years, 19 days, while the combined length of stay for the 24 graduating seniors is 117 years, 1 month, 18 days.
"Young men like Damion, Skyler and Cody started in Elementary School, played Little League here and Junior High football and done all the things you'd expect as they grew up," Hart said. "They have had that second chance to have a safe environment and to have positive mentors around them. Now they are going to have this transition from childhood to the independence of adulthood."
The graduation ceremony begins a full day of activity at the Mooseheart campus. Roughly at 11:30 a.m., the Mooseheart band will lead the annual procession leading to the House of God for the 82nd Conferral of the Pilgrim Degree of Merit, the Moose fraternity's highest degree. The procession is a public event, but by longstanding tradition, the ceremony that begins at noon inside the House of God is closed to the public--indeed, to all other than current holders and new conferees of the Pilgrim Degree.
- Wednesday, May 19: Honors and Awards Ceremony, Mooseheart Fieldhouse, 2 p.m.
- Friday, May 21, Fifth Grade and Eighth Grade Promotion Ceremony, Mooseheart Fieldhouse, 2 p.m.
- Saturday, May 22, High School Commencement, Mooseheart Fieldhouse, 9 a.m.; 82nd Conferral of the Pilgrim Degree, House of God, noon.
Mooseheart Child City & School is a 1,000-acre community and school for children and teens in need of a secure home, located just south of Batavia, IL, between Illinois Route 31 and Randall Road.
Founded in 1913, Mooseheart is supported completely through private donations - the great majority of which come from the 1.1 million men and women of the Moose fraternal organization, in roughly 1,900 Lodges and 1,600 Chapters located throughout the U.S., Canada, Great Britain and Bermuda. Moose International headquarters is located on the Mooseheart campus.
Since its founding, Mooseheart has operated a complete, accredited kindergarten-through-high-school academic program, plus art, music, vocational training and interscholastic sports. It is an extremely nurturing and student-tailored program, with an average student-teacher ratio of 12-1.
Mooseheart students who complete their studies with a 3.0 GPA or better (4.0=A) are eligible for up to five years of annually renewable scholarship funding, covering tuition, room and board in an amount comparable to that required for an in-state student at an Illinois public university.
Mooseheart is currently home to nearly 230 students, ranging in age from preschoolers to high school seniors. Applications for admission to Mooseheart are considered from any family whose children are, for whatever reason, lacking a stable home environment. Mooseheart boasts its own U.S. Post Office and a fully functioning branch of Fifth Third Bank.
In addition to Mooseheart, Moose International also supports Moosehaven, a 70-acre retirement community near Jacksonville, FL founded in 1922; and conducts more than $90 million worth of community service programs annually.
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