FARMINGTON, N.M. – Outrage has led to changes for the upcoming graduation ceremonies at one New Mexico school district. 

In 2024, a Farmington High School student had to switch out her decorated graduation cap for a plain one during her ceremony. Her family said the decorations represented her Native heritage. The district said it was policy.

“It was extremely disrespectful and made quite a large portion of the community very mad,” said Allyson Keeling, a senior at Piedra Vista High School. 

“I think the whole situation was handled poorly by all of the people at Farmington High School, and that they should have caught it sooner or done something better, instead of just taking it off in front of the whole crowd,” said Makenna Pete, a junior at FHS.

Since then, the Farmington Students Equity Council has been working to make changes to the graduation attire requirements. The council believes students should be allowed to celebrate their culture. 

“It is a very big part of Navajo culture. I wouldn’t want to wear my traditional attire in fear of something like that happening to me,” said Allyson Keeling, a senior at PVHS senior. 

“It would just mean so much for me and my family and other students to be able to say, ‘I shouldn’t go away from my culture and that it’s something I can be proud of,’” Pete said.

Their efforts were successful. Earlier this month, Farmington Municipal Schools announced the class of 2025 can decorate their graduation caps.

Students couldn’t be more thrilled about the outcome.

“There’s a lot of things that have happened historically in this town, against Native Americans and the Navajo tribe. So it’s just great to see that we can be celebrated and that we are able to celebrate with our regalia,” Pete said.

“I hope that more students will be able to will feel safe enough to wear their traditional attire in school,” Keeling said. 

The impact of this is going beyond the district. Two bills are in committee in the New Mexico Legislature that both focus on tribal regalia at school events and graduation ceremonies.