To young Norman parents, a cap and gown means the world

By Tami Althoff

Published: August 21, 2008

NORMAN — If you are the parent of a high school senior, or if you have a child who has recently graduated, you know there are some extra costs incurred when it's time to graduate.

In addition to regular items such as yearbooks and senior photos, you have to shell out more money to pay for a cap and gown if you want to see your child walk across the stage on graduation day. While the cost of a cap and gown may seem like a small price to pay for some families, it's too much for others.

Stephanie Sager, chairman of the Junior League of Norman's Baby Steps committee, said many students in the Baby Steps program don't participate in graduation ceremonies because they can't afford the cap and gown.

Baby Steps provides a safe, loving and nurturing place for children of Norman Public Schools students so the young parents can stay in school.

In addition to providing child care, Baby Steps teaches the teens parenting skills, provides child care lessons and offers hands-on parenting classes. The program has helped more than 120 pregnant and parenting teens graduate since it was started by the Junior League of Norman in 1993.

Sager hopes families of recent high school graduates will go through their closets and donate used caps and gowns so Baby Steps students can participate in graduation this school year.

"While most people have their eye on going back to school right now, those of us connected with Baby Steps are always thinking about graduation,” Sager wrote in an e-mail.

"We are so proud of each of our graduates and all they have accomplished. The majority of their resources are going to help care for their children, so they rarely have the extra money it takes to purchase the cap and gown at the end of the year.”

Sager said it would mean a lot to the graduates if they could join their classmates in graduation ceremonies next May.

"The teens work so hard to earn the credits to graduate while also raising their families that it is absolutely heartbreaking when they do not get to participate in the final celebration of all their hard work,” Sager wrote.

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