Graduation is a time of celebration!

The Graduation of your homeschooled son or daughter is a momentous occasion and worthy of celebration.  NCHE invites you to commemorate the occasion with your family and with your community of Home-based Educators, living in North Carolina and abroad. The NCHE Annual Conference is the perfect time to recognize the accomplishments of your son or daughter.

Graduation Ceremony

The NCHE Graduation Ceremony will be held on Saturday, May 26, 2012 at 5:00pm at the Benton Convention Center in Winston-Salem, the location of the annual NCHE Conference. The ceremony should last approximately one hour. Students may invite a reasonable number of guests, to be indicated on the application form. The graduate’s attire must be the NCHE hunter green gown and cap with gold tassel (purchased in the grad package). A cap and gown from a previous NCHE graduate may NOT be used. Failure to comply with the dress code forfeits ceremony participation. With the exception of the NCHE Honor cord, graduation accessories are not allowed. Ceremony participants will receive their cap and gown and additional information by mail two to three weeks prior to the ceremony.

Qualifications

The NCHE Graduation Program is offered to homeschool students graduating during the current school year. Applicant families must be NCHE members at the time the student graduates. The application must be submitted by March 1, 2012. Students may elect to participate in the full graduation program or individual program options.

Discounted pricing is provided for families who qualify for the NCHE Long-Standing Member Program. To qualify for this discount, the applicant’s family must meet the following requirements:

• NCHE membership three out of the last four years at the time the student graduates. (If the student began homeschooling during high school, the requirement is membership two out of the last three years.)
• The student must have homeschooled a minimum of two years of high school.
• Homeschool families who move into the state during the student’s high school years must be members from the time they begin homeschooling in North Carolina (not to exceed three years).

Diploma

NCHE prints a distinctive homeschool diploma enclosed in a hunter green cover. This diploma includes the student’s name, school name, and graduation date. The homeschool chief administrator will be responsible for signing the diploma to certify that the student has completed high school. Students who are participating in the NCHE graduation ceremony will be awarded the diploma by their parents. The NCHE office will mail diplomas by May 15, 2012 to students not participating in the ceremony. You will need to know your graduate’s graduation date when ordering a diploma unless your graduate is participating in the NCHE graduation ceremony.

Recognition in The Greenhouse Report

The May/June issue of The Greenhouse Report recognizes NCHE graduates with a short biography and picture, if desired.

If you want to participate, you will need the text, and picture if you desire, ready when you complete the order. You can now upload your digital photo when completing your graduation application.

If you have trouble uploading your photo with your online graduation application you may email it separately to the office. Be sure to put the student’s name in the subject line and parent’s name in the body of the email when sending the photo. (Close up shot of student only-photo will be printed as sent-color or b/w.) If the photograph is copyrighted you must include a permission letter from the photographer. There is an additional charge for mailing a hard copy picture to the NCHE office.

Digital pictures must be at least 150 dpi, sized to 1 inch x 1.25 inch. If you are not sure how to determine this information, ask for assistance at a photo center or make sure that the picture is rather large. If the file is a jpg or jpeg, it should be a minimum of 35KB; and if it is a tif file it should be a minimum of 90KB.

Announcements and Name Cards

Announcements are a wonderful way to inform family and friends of your graduate’s participation in the NCHE Graduation Ceremony. NCHE is proud to offer these customized announcements and name cards.

Name cards, with your graduate’s name, and matching envelopes will be included for each announcement in your order.

Announcements and name cards are only available to graduates participating in the NCHE Graduation Ceremony at the NCHE Annual Conference. They are available in multiples of 20.

Honor Cord

If your senior is graduating with a 3.75 GPA or higher, you can recognize his achievement with a gold honor cord to be worn during the graduation ceremony. They will be mailed with the cap and gown.