RCHS ‘Family of 2020’ receive wellearned diplomas
‘All of our lives were irrevocably altered by COVID-19’
Graduate Skye Kirchman, RCHS Principal Jimmy Swindler and school counselor Dani Pond on stage at Saturday’s ceremony.
COVID-19 might have thrown a giant wrench into the graduation plans of Rappahannock County High School’s Class of 2020, but given the group of seniors is like family the difficult process became a whole lot easier.
“Our class of 2020 is more than a group of students who go to school together,” class valedictorian Lauren Petty observed at the first-ever RCHS outdoor graduation ceremony on Saturday evening. “Our class of 2020 is a family.”
Petty reminded her fellow students and their families who pulled vehicles into the high school parking lot for the pandemic-altered ceremony that only a few months ago most within the school community — students, parents and faculty alike — never dreamt there could even be a graduation.
“What a tremendous pleasure it is to have everyone together now,” said Petty, praising the “sense of community which has united this fantastic group of people.”
“Class of 2020, we must accept that all of our lives were irrevocably altered by COVID-19 and that we must work to ensure that this pandemic does not crush our spirits,” Petty said in her remarks. “This is a class of fighters.”
Schools Superintendent Dr. Shannon Grimsley similarly praised the 54 graduating seniors who suddenly found their final semester together turned upside down.
“The class who literally set their clocks back from standard time this year to the Twilight Zone,” is how Dr. Grimsley summed it up. “The class who began the year worrying about Australian wildfires dealt with managing a new normal during a worldwide pandemic.
“We had such a wonderful year planned for you: prom, senior trip, senior banquet, graduation. It was supposed to have been perfect for you.”
But in the blink of an eye, she said it became “challenging, unpredictable, chaotic.”
Even a happy occasion like this one wasn’t all smiles for some in attendance, with more than one complaint surrounding the lack of masks and social distancing by certain students and their families.
Rappahannock County High School Principal Jimmy Swindler, who spearheaded the graduation ceremony, acknowledged afterward: “Definitely learned some lessons that will serve us well as we continue to work towards the best possible reopening plan for our schools” now set for late August.
Swindler said while he was delighted to see joy on the faces of parents and students who so desperately wanted to have at least some semblance of a “normal graduation,” he was “not so thrilled to see a few who apparently feel they are invulnerable to COVID.”
The high school principal insisted that “most did follow our pre-event and at-event guidance” regarding the wearing of masks and physical distancing.
“I know there are pics out there of groups congregating and couples being very close with no masks but please remember those were almost entirely family cohorts or mother/daughter pics,” he said.
A parent of one graduating senior, Dabney Hammer Kirchman, posted to social media: “I dearly wish there had been more than 3 [of 54] graduates in masks on the stage.”
“I also wish there had been enforcement of mask wearing and social distancing at the event as we were promised beforehand. I am dismayed the administration did not make an effort to enforce the protocols they assured us would be in place to prevent community transmission.”