‘Really Cool’
SHS graduates still relish the experience Spartan Stadium hosts drive-thru ceremony
No question about it, this commencement ceremony was special.
One graduate came in a white limo, another a black party bus and another sat atop a silver convertible. Making their way across the Spartan Stadium track, the Strathmore High School Class of 2020 made the most of their drive-thru graduation Thursday evening.
“Strathmore’s worked really hard to give us as much of an experience of a graduation as we can get,” SHS top student, Jacob Martinez, said. “There’s a lot of people that just get off and get their diploma and just go back in the car and the fact that they were able to pull this off for us is just really cool and means a lot. It just shows how much they really care about their students.”
Unlike most drive-thru graduations, vehicles were able to pull right up to the red carpet and family and friends could get out and watch from just a few feet away as their graduate had their name called and went to accept their diploma cover while staff members social-distanced and cheered them on.
“Our plan was to do as close as possible to the real event, and that’s the advantage of, yes, being small, having our own stadium,” SHS principal, Diane Rankin, said. “We love our kids and we wanted to do whatever to make up for what they’re going through.”
Although the coronavirus prevented the Spartans from having a normal graduation, it showed on the faces of each graduate’s family and friends how special it was to be
right there for their special moment.
Grandparents got out of their cars and stood with the help of family or a walker to watch. Parents held babies and young children up, waving their small hands as their graduate did their walk. Family and friends held up one or two phones to live stream the event for those who couldn’t be there physically.
If things were different, Martinez, Rankin and Marleni Torres would have delivered speeches in front of this year’s graduating class. Instead, they recorded their speeches last week and will have them included in a graduation video to be posted on
Porterville Unified School District’s Youtube account.
Still Martinez and Rankin shared some parting words for the Class of 2020.
“If anything out of all this, we’ve all become resilient,” Rankin said. “Take this, empower yourself out of everything that’s gone on during this time and don’t lose sight of your dreams just because things were a little different. I think that this was a great class, they did great things and I’m just sad that we didn’t get to say a proper goodbye.”
“Just take every opportunity and run with it,” Martinez said. “Life is going to throw you a lot of different obstacles, from family issues to personal issues, and just be able to overcome it and see the outcome.
Think of the future and how it’s going to impact you. It’s just going to help you out so much. Think of the bright side.
Be a little bit optimistic on everything that you do because it just helps you get so much farther.”