Class of 2020 grateful for modified graduation celebrations
Walking across a stage in cap and gown while “Pomp and Circumstance” plays.
Spending all day primping for the senior prom.
Saying goodbye to friends on the last day of high school.
The coronavirus pandemic is forcing school officials and parents across Oakland County to do what they can to create substitutes for these and other events that mark the end of one chapter of life and the beginning of another.
“I’ve just learned to accept that my senior year isn’t going to end the way I thought it would,” said Stacey Hirsch, graduating from Bloomfield Hills High School and entering the University of Michigan in the fall.
While acknowledging that losing out on the traditional senior year sendoffs has been difficult, she and others in the class of 2020 accept that the pandemic brought circumstances that were beyond anyone’s control. But school officials still wanted to recognize them.
The Bloomfield Hills Schools organized several virtual senior honors convocations and is planning a “drive-in” commencement
in the high school’s parking lots on June 7 — the day that the traditional graduation ceremony would have been held if it had not been for the pandemic.
“We need to do something, at a minimum, for our seniors,” said Paul Kolin, Bloomfield Hills Board of Education president. “They deserve it.”
Kolin said if Gov. Gretchen Whitmer lifts the ban on large gatherings by commencement, the district can reconsider a traditional commencement, but that doesn’t seem likely.
Kolin and other elected and district officials, along with senior class officers, recorded speeches that will be shown on large screens, while graduates in caps and gowns sit in cars with their families.
Each graduate’s senior picture will be shown on the screens and “we’ll just keep reading the names as if they were walking,” Kolin said.
Kolin said he has gotten calls from school officials in neighboring districts — and even from some out of state — asking for tips on how to conduct a socially distanced commencement ceremony.
“They want to see the playbook,” he said.
Each graduate will be limited to one carload of family members in attendance, but the ceremony will be shown on area cable systems.
Other area districts have taken a number of steps to recognize their seniors while they wait to see if Whitmer will lift restrictions on large gatherings so they can organize a delayed prom or commencement ceremony before the graduates leave for college or other destinations.
Many districts are posting senior pictures on social media, with information about what each graduate plans to do after high school.
Mercy High School in Farmington Hills held a car parade for its graduates on the last day of school for seniors. Graduates in caps and gowns rode in cars decorated with balloons and banners from the Costick Center next door to Mercy’s parking lot, where seniors popped their heads out of windows and sunroofs to chat with classmates.
“The whole situation is heartbreaking because seniors weren’t able to experience saying goodbye and our last day of high school in person, all together in the building,” said graduate Macey Earle. “Mercy has a lot of wonderful traditions to honor their seniors, so every school year it is exciting to know that you are one step closer to experiencing all those things, so our whole grade was devastated when events and celebrations had to be modified. However, our school did a wonderful job to do their absolute best to still celebrate us and found new ways to continue traditions and show their appreciation.”
The school did social media shoutouts, video messages, positive notes sent home, gifts and virtual goodbyes and celebrations, in addition to the car parade, she said.
Efforts in other schools to recognize graduates include:
• Lake Orion High School placed large senior photos of this year’s class along the Paint Creek Trail.
• A senior at Troy Athens High School created a minidocumentary featuring interviews with students about their school memories and parting words for their classmates.