OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – The cost of a cap and gown can be a financial burden to some families. In fact, some seniors choose to skip graduation for that reason. 

However, in the Putnam City Public School District, they’re working to make sure that’s not the case for any of their students.

Now, they need your help.

It won’t be long until the class of 2023 walks the school hallways for the last time and there’s a group effort underway to make sure they get the sendoff they deserve.

“We do our very best to provide whatever our kids need because we don’t want finances to be the reason they can’t enjoy high school,” said Putnam City High School teacher Morgan Schmidt.

Schmidt says over the last few years, the need has grown among her students for help with funds for things like prom and graduation.

“We have senior meetings multiple times throughout the year but at the first one, I told them money is not going to be the reason you don’t get to walk across that stage. I will make it happen no matter what,” Schmidt said.

So she reached out to the district’s alumni and foundation for help and that’s when they started the Grant-a-Gown program.

For a donation of $70, you can fund a student’s cap and gown so they’ll be able to walk the graduation stage.

“It’s really, really helpful for a student who is living paycheck to paycheck, having to pay that out of their own working wage just to make it a little more special for them,” said Alyx Picard, with the Putnam City Schools Foundation. 

“So money is not going to be the reason they didn’t walk across that stage and they got through distance learning,” Schmidt said. “They got through all the craziness of COVID and they deserve to walk across that stage.”

The goal is $2,500, which would help students at all three Putnam City schools.
If you’d like to donate, click here.