Honoring graduates in age of coronavirus
Districts look for ways to celebrate prom, graduation
Angelina Meitzler was thrilled with her choice.
The Boyertown High School Senior had picked out the perfect dress for prom. It was white, with imitation pearls on the top and lace on the bottom.
It cost well into three figures, but Angelina and her family figured it was worth it.
“We spent all that money because it’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” she said. “I was really looking forward to wearing it and to spending prom with my friends.”
The coronavirus had other plans.
Just days after Angelina was fitted for her “perfect dress” the news came down that, because of the coronavirus pandemic, schools across Pennsylvania were being shut down for the rest of the school year.
“It was kind of a panic,” she said. “My prom dress was still at the store. I didn’t know if I’d be able to get it. We called and were able to pick it up.
“But I thought, wow, are we even going to be able to still have our prom?” she added. “I was looking forward to that being our last big bang for the year.”
It’s a question kids across Berks County have likely been asking. The coronavirus crisis turned students’ lives upside down, forcing them out of their classrooms and into a world of virtual learning.
It canceled sporting events and concerts and trips. Were seminal events like prom and graduation next?
School districts across Berks County are working to make sure that’s not the case. While many are still crafting plans, several have come up with alternative routes to hold the events.
Summer proms
The solution for prom in Boyertown was to move it to July 31 with the hope the pandemic will have subsided and groups can once again gather, Angelina said.
“It was kind of like a breather for us,” Angelina said. “I was worried about losing the money for the dress, but even more than that about just not being able to have that experience.
“I’m an only child. My mom can’t see another kid go to prom.”
Angelina said the district did a survey of students to see if enough were interested in a summer prom to make it worthwhile. When the results came in, she said, it was a huge lift for her sagging spirits.
“I was sitting at home, feeling down because my whole senior year was falling apart. There wasn’t even a single breath of hope,” she said. “When we finally heard they were coming up with a date, it was kind of like a big breath of relief. Finally, maybe, I can have something of my senior year.”
Other Berks districts are following the same path as Boyertown when it comes to prom. Antietam, Exeter, Fleetwood, Schuylkill Valley and Tulpehocken have each announced definite or tentative plans to hold prom in July or August.
Exeter High School Principal Thomas Campbell said Exeter’s plans for a mid-July prom are tentative.
“The way I’ve been explaining it is there’s things that we know and things we don’t know,” he said. “We know what we can and can’t do for the next month. The things beyond June, we don’t know.”
What the future holds, he said, is yet to be determined. He is holding out hope that an in-person prom can be held, saying it’s not the type of thing that translates well online.
“It’s hard to do a virtual equivalent to sitting down to dinner and a night of dancing,” he said.
Graduating during a pandemic
While school districts seem to be taking similar approaches to prom, the solutions for holding graduation ceremonies are more of a hodgepodge.
Some districts, like Tulpehocken and Twin Valley, have used the same delay tactic being used for prom, pushing the ceremonies to late July.
Others are considering making the event a virtual experience, hold the ceremony online. Schuylkill Valley is doing both, holding a virtual graduation on June 5 and then, hopefully, an inperson version on July 30.
Brady Ferguson, a senior at Daniel Boone High School, said knowing he won’t get to take part in a traditional ceremony is disappointing but understandable.
“Obviously it’s a little heartbreaking because it’s something we’ve worked for for 13 years,” he said. “Not being able to have it is frustrating, but I’ve come to the realization that it can’t be changed. The school district is trying to do what’s best for us.”
Daniel Boone hasn’t announced finalized plans for graduation, but school officials said it will be a virtual event.
“It’s definitely going to feel different,” Brady said. “We’ve all waited for that moment to walk across the stage. It’s definitely a hard pill to swallow knowing we won’t be able to do that.”
Some of Brady’s classmates, in an attempt to make the day special, are trying to organize a car parade through the community the day of the virtual ceremony.
And district officials haven’t written off the possibility of holding an in-person event some time over the summer or in the fall, if restrictions on gathering are lifted. Brady said he appreciated the effort.
“I think they’re doing everything they can for us, given the limits put in place by Gov. Tom Wolf,” he said.
While Daniel Boone and others are moving toward virtual graduation, at least two districts, Wilson and Antietam, are planning to hold drive-in ceremonies where seniors and their parents can pull into a parking lot to take part in the festivities.
“Our goal is to celebrate our seniors the best we can, knowing that we are currently still on a stay-athome order,” said Karen Troutman, Wilson’s director of public relations.
The drive-in idea wasn’t Plan A at Wilson, said high school Principal Dan Weber. The initial plan was to hold the ceremony next school year, around either homecoming or winter break.
But in talking with student leaders, it became clear that wasn’t the way they wanted to go.
“They were very much turned off,” he said. “They wanted something sooner rather than later. They said the further away it gets, the less special it gets.”
Students also were worried not all of the classmates could get back into town to take part, Weber said.
Troutman said the drivein graduation idea is something she’s seen other schools around the country doing. She said it’s a great way to honor seniors while still honoring social distancing.
“It allows the students to be celebrated in kind of a unique way,” she said.
The event will take place May 29. After driving in a procession around the neighborhoods that surround the high school, families will be able park their vehicles in the high school parking lot.
There, four large screens will be set up for families to watch the graduation proceedings, which will be broadcast over an FM radio frequency, like how most drive-in movie theaters work. The ceremony will also be livestreamed for people to watch from home.
Each students’ name will be read and a photo of them will be displayed on the screens. Following the ceremony, there will be a fireworks display.
“We’re super excited,” Troutman said.
Weber said finding something special to do for seniors was incredibly important, especially since they were forced to finish their long school careers at home.
“We’re not honoring them for their senior year, we’re honoring them for a 13-year journey,” he said. “They have lost a lot of what people call ‘rites of passage’ over the last couple of months. We want to give them something back.”
Troutman said the district also might try to hold a more traditional in-person graduation ceremony over the summer or in the fall. But that will depend on the coronavirus.
“We’re open to anything we can do,” she said.
In Exeter, seniors will be able to take part in a virtual graduation. Campbell, the high school principal, said the district is working with a video production company on the project.
Campbell said holding the online ceremony is an attempt to give seniors some sort of closure to their school careers, something that COVID-19 has robbed them of.
“When they left on March 12, no one really sensed what was coming,” he said, referring to the state’s initial temporary closure of schools. “They left like they leave any other day. They didn’t get any closure.”
Campbell said graduation is a celebration of over a dozen years of accomplishments and memories. It’s not something to gloss over or downplay.
“They deserve that honor,” he said of the graduates. “Graduation is important to them, and that’s appropriate.”
Campbell said he knows having a virtual ceremony isn’t perfect, it’s not what students pictured or wanted. But, he added, they’re making the best of it.
“It breaks our hearts to see the kids suffering this loss,” he said. “It makes me feel better when they recognize the perspective and the big picture. They know this is a big event, but the also know they’re tougher than this and we will get through this.
“They realize they were dealt a bad hand and they’re playing it the best they can.”
Unhappy with the plans
Not everyone is happy with having to hold alternative graduations.
While Angelina is ecstatic Boyertown found a way to still hold a prom, she said her feelings about graduation are far different. While Boyertown hasn’t officially made any announcements about the event, she said students and families have been informed it will be a virtual event.
“I had a feeling to begin with that I was going to be disappointed,” she said. “Online things are completely different and not as meaningful as in-person. Seniors deserve the gratification we’ve been working for.
“We’re already robbed of the rest of our school year, why rob us of our graduation that we’ve worked 13 years for, too?”
Angelina’s classmate, Claire Ortlip, said she feels the same way.
“Never in my 13 years of going to school did I imagine graduating in my own house,” she said. “I was devastated when I found this news out.”
Claire said she wishes the district would try harder to come up with a better plan, pointing to other local districts that are still planning to hold in-person events.
“I understand that this is a very serious matter, but we deserve to be celebrated better,” she said. “Five seconds on a YouTube video with a slideshow of our ‘accomplishments’ just isn’t enough. My fellow classmates deserve more.”
A group of students and parents also are upset at the prospects of Daniel Boone holding graduation online.
“I know that several area schools have plans in place where they’re still making graduation a special event,” said Kelly Steffanelli, whose son, Maxwell, is set to graduate. “We just want to see the same for Daniel Boone.”
Steffanelli has been involved in circulating a petition asking the district not to rely solely on a prerecorded, virtual graduation ceremony. It has about 1,200 signatures.
“We just want to make sure our seniors are celebrated and they have something to look forward to,” she said.
Steffanelli said she and other parents are open to options, whether that be pushing the ceremony into the summer or doing one virtually now with plans to reconvene in-person later. She said she has hope that when the district put outs its official plan, it will be more than just the virtual ceremony.
Steffanelli said she doesn’t want to be difficult, she just wants her son and his classmates to have the kind of recognition they deserve.
“We’ve all experienced graduation and we would like the same for our children,” she said. “He worked hard. He’s a great student, he’s an athlete. I want him to have this opportunity to be celebrated.”
“Our goal is to celebrate our seniors the best we can, knowing that we are currently still on a stay-at-home order.” — Karen Troutman, Wilson’s director of public relations