PIB honours 2020 grads

Traditional graduation ceremonies were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so the Penticton Indian Band education department got creative.

“This year with COVID-19 has been especially different because we haven’t been able to do it in person,” says Rhea Dupuis, the PIB education department principal.

Dupuis and the rest of the team brainstormed ideas and decided to set up the graduation like a drive-in movie. They rented a large LED screen, displayed the students’ graduation pictures and played videos of the students talking about their journey as well as sending messages to the future students.

“This year, we’ve had one of the most graduates with 44 students graduating,” says Dupuis.

Juilanna George is one of the graduates. She just completed her final year at Penticton Secondary. Instead of walking the stage she drove to the parking lot of the Outma Sqilx’w Cultural School for her graduation on

June 16.

“It was nerve-wracking to realize that everyone would be watching you on a screen but I was glad to see the reaction everyone had towards it,” she says.

The 18-year-old was disappointed she wasn’t able to cross the stage like her older relatives, but there was a silver lining.

“Because of the virtual graduation, my dad, who is in hospital, had the chance to watch it himself,” George explains.

“It makes me even more thankful for the opportunity that was given to me because of PIB.”

The drive-in graduation ceremony went for about two hours and featured students from across education institutions ranging from local high schools to the University of B.C. All of the graduates either participated in PIB or has a parent who is a member.