Hot on the heels of the Scripps National Spelling Bee comes an epic gaffe affecting thousands of newly-minted Prince George’s County Public Schools alumni.

The diplomas of all graduating PGCPS seniors contain a misspelling of the word “program," written instead as “progam,” omitting the second “r.” 

PGCPS Communications Director Briant Coleman confirmed Wednesday that the misspelling was the result of a vendor error. He said officials became aware of the typo sometime last week, and that all students and parents had been notified.

The vendor, National Quality Products—located in Fairfax, VA—will pay for the reprinting of the diplomas and mail them to the students in about six weeks, according to an apology letter issued by the vendor to PGCPS.

Lynn Bryant’s daughter, Heather, graduated from Frederick Douglass High School in Upper Marlboro about two weeks ago. Bryant's daughter brought the error to her attention after her friend noticed it last Thursday. 

The rest of Heather’s friends—also recent Douglass grads—checked their diplomas and all found the same spelling error.

“That’s kind of embarrassing,” Bryant said.

Patch also received an email from Vickie Walker of Bowie, whose son John graduated from Bowie High School last week, reporting that “program” was also misspelled on her son’s diploma.

See coverage from last week's Parkdale High School and Northwestern High School graduations.