More than 10,000 Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) students are expected to receive their diplomas during commencement ceremonies that began today, May 29, and continue through June 8. The ceremonies will include a wide array of commencement speakers, including authors, actors, an Olympic gold medalist, educators and others representing a variety of professions and interests.

MCPS is also inviting parents and students to share photos of graduation via email and on Twitter.

The first graduation ceremonies are today, Tuesday, May 29, for Bethesda-Chevy Chase and Paint Branch high schools; Wednesday, May 30, for Quince Orchard and Thomas S. Wootton high schools; and Thursday, May 31, for Rockville and Sherwood high schools and Stephen Knolls School.

Among those who will speak at ceremonies: Haley Skarupa, 2018 Olympic gold medalist, will address graduates at Thomas S. Wootton High School on May 30, and actor and comedian Jason Kravitz will speak to graduates of Magruder High School on June 1.

Other speakers include:

• Ken Niumatalolo, head football coach, U.S. Naval Academy, will speak to graduates from Quince Orchard High School on May 30;

• Andrew Och, author and television producer, will speak to graduates from Rockville High School on May 31;

• Nora Roberts, author, will speak to graduates from Montgomery Blair High School on June 5; and

• Dana Milbank, Washington Post journalist, will speak to graduates from Walt Whitman High School on June 8.

Several schools will feature teachers and students as speakers. Graduations for 18 MCPS high schools will be held at DAR Constitution Hall (DAR), in Washington, D.C. These ceremonies will be streamed live on the DAR Constitution Hall website. Ceremonies will also be held at the Xfinity Center, Mount St. Mary’s University, and at individual school or program locations.

List of Graduation dates, times, locations and speakers

Submit Graduation Photos

MCPS is inviting parents and students to share their favorite 2018 graduation snapshots, which will be shared on the district’s website and social media.

For email, parents should select their best horizontal graduation snapshot and send the photo as a .jpeg file (no larger than 4 MB) to pio@mcpsmd.org. Please include your child’s first name and school (we will not publish last names). Many of the pictures will be posted on the MCPS website and Flickr account.

For social media, parents and students can post photos on Twitter and Facebook using the hashtag #MCPSGrad. Some of the posts will be shared on our Twitter and Facebook pages.

By submitting a photo, parents are agreeing to its use for publication on the MCPS website.