The coronavirus pandemic has transformed nearly every aspect of the American education system. And high school graduations, a hallmark springtime rite of passage, will be no exception.
Many of the touchstones of such ceremonies – large crowds, a handshake from the principal – are forbidden by public health directives. So schools are getting creative, hosting drive-in ceremonies, abbreviated graduations for individual students, or all-virtual events.
In Chittenden County, Essex, South Burlington and Champlain Valley Union high schools are working with Higher Ground, Action Sounds and Champlain Valley Expo to host separate drive-in ceremonies in mid-June at the fairgrounds.
“All the kids really wanted somehow, someway, to gather appropriately together as one,” said Essex principal Rob Reardon. “This would be at least one small win in a period of time that has had one disappointment after another.”
A large screen and stage will be set so that up to 500 cars will be able to park at once in front of the stage. Because of the number of graduates at each school – the largest, CVU, has more than 330 – and strict social distancing requirements, students won’t be able to walk across the stage to retrieve a diploma, although the rest of the ceremony will follow the regular format. The event will also be live-streamed for those who can’t make it in person.
South Burlington parent Julie Pidgeon said she’s grateful for the effort.
“I think we all expected we were just going to get the diploma in the mail. I think they’ve gone above and beyond, personally,” she said.
In updated guidance released last week, the Agency of Education gave the thumbs-up to such events, as long as vehicles are spaced 6 feet apart, families remain in their cars, and staff conducting the ceremony be kept to a minimum and maintain a safe distance.
Graduates can walk across a stage – one by one – to receive their diplomas, according to state officials. But students should wear masks, their diplomas must be in bags, and all physical contact, including handshakes and hugs, are strictly prohibited.
Schools are also allowed to hold in-person events if they’re limited to 10 people or fewer, although the maximum number of people allowed could go up as the state slowly reopens.
In Burlington, the city’s 220-some graduates will come to the high school by appointment next week to do a graduation walk in the school’s front courtyard. Students will get to receive their diplomas, take pictures and ring the high school’s bell – a longstanding graduation tradition at the school. Photos will later be stitched together for a virtual event that will be broadcast June 12.
Noel Green, the high school’s principal, said he expects it’ll take the better part of Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of next week to perform an in-person mini-ceremony for each graduating senior.
“They deserve it,” he said. “If it takes us being out there for those three days, we’ll do it.”
At Randolph Union High, principal Elijah Hawkes said a staff, faculty and student committee charged with planning the event considered bringing the ceremony to every graduate’s home using flat-bed trailers to truck a stage around Orange County. When the logistics involved proved prohibitive, the committee ultimately opted on a drive-in ceremony in the Vermont Technical College parking lot.
Families will remain in their cars, and graduates will walk across a stage one at a time to receive their diplomas. School officials also anticipate being able to livestream the event using the college’s internet, which means that family at home – and those sitting in cars far from the stage – will be able to watch up close what’s going on onstage. The set-up will mirror drive-in movie theaters of yesteryear, when moviegoers could tune in to the show using their car radios.
Sarah Garvin, Randolph’s senior class president, who helped plan the event, said many of her peers had hoped to preserve some of the traditional trappings of a graduation – walking across a stage, primarily, and wearing a cap and gown.
“I know a lot of fellow seniors were giving up on the idea that they would not be able to walk this year. Or for their graduation in general, so I know a lot of them are feeling blessed and very thankful,” she said.
And at Otter Valley Union High in Rutland County, families will drive in to the junior varsity football field, where a small number of school officials will stand on a stage for individual diploma handoffs.
Rutland Northeast Supervisory Union superintendent Jeanné Collins said a student survey made it clear graduating seniors wanted to come together as much as possible.
“They’re still segregated into cars. So there will be some disappointment that it can’t be more in person,” Collins said. “And that’s a fact. But it’s more creative than where we started.”