High school students receive graduataion diplomas

When given their diplomas, Spring Creek High School students in Nevada received a surprise: the word “graduation” was misspelled as “graduataion.” High School Principal Keith Walz said the 203 diplomas were ordered from Jostens and were spell-checked upon arrival. “It was an inadvertent mistake,” Walz said. “On our end, we check the kid’s names and the names of school personnel.”

Jostens, located in Salt Lake City, has already sent out corrected diplomas by priority mail directly to the students. The school will not be charged for the extra diplomas. “It was a Jostens mistake, period,” said Bryan Durfey, Jostens representative for the Elko County School District. “Our policy regarding errors is we fix it immediately.”



The mistake was a result of a change in equipment, Durfey said. When the company and school proofread the diplomas, the word “graduation” was taken as a no-brainer and the error was missed, he said. Since Jostens does a lot of business with schools, it does not charge school or students when mistakes occur. Durfey said the relationship is more of a partnership. “We understand we aren’t gonna be perfect,” Durfey said.

In a similar incident that occurred recently in Maryland, National Quality Products printed 8,000 high school diplomas with the word “program” spelled incorrectly. The mistake was not noticed until commencements were under way. The school officials for Prince George County paid $15,750 for the diplomas but will not have to pay for the replacements. Walz said this will not affect the Spring Creek High School’s future business interactions with Jostens.