Graduation-does your school have a baccalaureate service?

Not for our school. Big city, large traditional public school, 850+ graduates.

I don't know where they would hold it, and don't know what religious tradition they would pick for it.

Yes they do. It is completely optional.

Not at our large suburban high school. We did years ago at my small suburban school in a neighboring state.

Baccalaureate is held by the community ministerial association, not the school. The ministerial association rents the auditorium, sends invites to the graduates and families, and it is their service since the school cannot sponsor it. Speakers included this year were five graduates and local ministers. About half of the grads attended this year. It's a tradition our community enjoys.

I did not have a baccalaureate. In the late 80's, when you live in the same state as the Freedom From Religion organization, the district did not rock the boat.

Hubby's was held at the Lutheran church. He lived in rural ND and almost everyone was Lutheran, except for a couple of Catholics and Evangelicals.

urban school district..never have one

Yes. Ours did.

It was a religious service held at a church (this was a public school in Texas). I did not attend.

No, individual churches do something to honor their graduates.

Ours did (20 years ago), AND we were told we *had* to show up or we wouldn't be allowed to walk at graduation. It was a religious service held on a Sunday afternoon, but it was held in the auditorium at our school. Dumbest shit ever - the speaker was just horrible, all she did was go on and on about how much pizza her college-aged son had in his dorm... Not sure where they dug her up, but she was asinine - my mom even commented on how stupid she was and my mom's a nice lady.

Yes. As a matter of fact there was all kinds of drama and debate and furiousness last year when the senior class voted to have a person of Muslim faith deliver the prayer portion-which she of course did a call to prayer instead of the traditional Christian prayer. To the point of a special called meeting to fire the superintendent who spoke up saying basically "this is what the class chose, we are all different and lets celebrate that." I was seriously ashamed of many people's reaction. It was absurd IMO.

Baccalaureate for us is held in the school's auditorium but hosted by the parents of the senior class. We currently live in a small town in the south. However, my graduation class in MI as well as DHs graduating class in SD also had baccalaureate. Mine was held at the school. Not sure about his.

Wikipedia has a nice definition: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baccalaureate_service
My high school had a Baccalaureate Service - held on the Sunday of the weekend of Graduation. But, of course, that was a long time ago and during a time when we sang high religious music, (once an entire Mass on Easter - in a church) so the "times" were very different!

Yes, my girls school had this ceremony. Small rural school. Held the Sunday before graduation. Sponsored by the churches. At the ceremony a representative from ea church had a part of it. They take turns being the key speaker every year. It's a nice ceremony. It's optional. I think about 1/2 of the kids go.

My high school had one back in the dark ages. It was a Catholic mass and you were expected to go, but only the Catholic students were allowed to participate. As one of the token Protestant students at the time, my parents refused to allow me to go.

The high school where I work and my kids attended has a baccalaureate service the day before graduation. It is held in the gym and the class chooses the speakers and musical performers. For DS#1, there was a Catholic priest, an Evangelical minister, and a Hindu clergyman (not sure of the proper term). Several students performed different religious and non-religious pieces and it was a beautiful service. My younger DS refused to attend so I don't know what his was like.

Yes, I had one held in the high school auditorium (in the dark ages) at a public high school (450 grads in senior class) in Wisconsin. My sons had them in their large public high school (750 grads in senior class) in Georgia, but theirs were held at a local mega-church so there was enough room for everyone. I didn't realize that this wasn't done in other parts of the country!
They were optional, not mandatory.