Every year, many Dulaney High School (DHS) seniors participate in the annual tradition of decorating their graduation caps with unique styles and designs.

With the standard plain black graduation cap, seniors have the opportunity to customize their caps to make them more fun and customized to themselves. People decorate their caps in many different ways, from the logo of their college to an iconic quote from their favorite movie.

Graduating seniors have various reasons for why they want to decorate their caps. Some people simply want it to look better.

“I don’t like the original black. I feel like decorating could make it better,” said Leah Hochrein.

Others appreciate the uniqueness the tradition allows.

“I feel like the individuality of it is so fun,” said Carolynn Schaefer.

“It’s a fun tradition and it will add value to the cap and gown experience. I feel like decorating your cap is good because you have worked hard all of high school to get to this point so celebrate it,” said Caleb Margolis.

As for how and in what ways seniors plan on decorating their caps, there are a variety of ideas.

“I think I’m just going to decorate it with my college symbol. I’ll buy a decal and stick it on there,” said Margolis.

Others want to make it as aesthetically pleasing and fun as possible.

“I might decorate mine around a TV show or movie or maybe a quote,” said Schaefer.

Those are only some options for customization. Decals and stickers are a simpler alternative for a little touch of personalization. Some artistically inclined students paint their caps, while other students will use glitter, rhinestones, and eye-catching materials to make their cap stand out.

“I’ll be using glitter and some flowers. I want it to be floral but also bedazzled,” said Schaefer.

“Bedazzling” the cap is a common theme among the visions students have for their caps.

“I don’t know what I’m doing yet but I’m planning on bedazzling it. Just something colorful and bright so you can see it,” said  Hochrein.

Most students who are decorating their caps plan on doing their design on paper or cardboard and then gluing that to the cap. This way, they don’t need to worry about making a mistake, and they can lay out their vision before committing. 

Another commonality among graduation cap decorators is doing it with friends. 

Regardless of how or why DHS seniors are decorating their caps for graduation, it is a fun tradition that many students have chosen to participate in and hope to keep going for years to come.