That is, however, if they pay their senior dues of $62 this year to attend and go on stage of Constitution Hall for the formal graduation ceremony.

“The requirements for graduation in the fall is to get the senior dues paid,” Co-coordinater and Field Hockey coach Cindy Hook said. “They can pay it one [full] payment or they can pay it in up to three payments in order to help people get all the money together [for the ceremony].”

Although senior dues are very important, they are not mandatory if the students do not wish to attend the formal ceremony at Constitution Hall. Students who do not pay their dues will not attend the ceremony and will only be given their diploma.

Even though 55 percent of the school receives free and reduced lunch, there is no reduction for senior dues.

“It is an optional activity;they don’t allow us to reduce that,” Hook said.

Surprisingly, senior dues at AHS are much less expensive than senior dues from other schools. The average senior due for other high schools in FCPS is around $200. The reason the dues are exponentially less is due to the hard work towards fundraising for the Class of 2012.

After September, there will be a few more opportunities to turn in senior dues. These dates are during lunch on October 26 and November 16. Senior dues also cover the price of graduation announcements, shirts, tassels, rental of Constitution Hall, ushers, flowers and all other administrative costs.