GRAD ADAPTATIONS
Proud mom Marie Benedict takes some keepsake photos on Tuesday of twin daughters Maeve and Orla in their graduation finery. Normally, this would have been their farewell to Queen Elizabeth High School but the pandemic has changed all that.
Twin sisters Claire and Jane Hopkins have had visions of the perfect graduation.
They are walking across the big stage at the Corral, cap and gown flowing, waving to the crowd as friends and family cheer. They see their parents, grandparents and classmates they’ve known since they started kindergarten.
It would be a perfect reward for a monumental task — 12 years of highs and lows, lifelong friendships, stressful exams, and all of the wonderful and sometimes tough lessons in between.
Later that night, they would relax at the BMO Centre, taking it all in at the black-tie graduation banquet, sharing a meal and showing off the gorgeous gowns they had so painstakingly picked months in advance.
But the dream has ended. Thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, and the shuttering of high schools across the country and around much of the globe, Claire and Jane will be among millions of Grade 12 students who won’t celebrate graduation the traditional way, an iconic rite of passage for every teenager.
“It’s so hard. I’ve been picturing this for so long, to finally walk across that stage, and to get that closure. Then it just gets taken away like that,” Claire said. “I was so looking forward to celebrating with all of my family, both sets of grandparents, my sisters … even friends I’ve known since kindergarten.”
Claire’s twin, Jane, has also imagined the moment for years, recalling the grad ceremonies of an older cousin and how awestruck she was by the momentous occasion.
“I’ve imagined this since elementary (school), to walk across the stage, to have that closure, and to share it with all the friends that you’ve been through so much with.”
This year’s graduation ceremonies have been officially cancelled by the Calgary Board of Education (CBE) and the Calgary Catholic School District (CCSD), with officials saying the events would have defied provincial health orders prohibiting large gatherings, particularly in Calgary where most graduating classes number in the hundreds.
But like so many with the Class of 2020, the Hopkins twins are bouncing back, using their creativity to find ways to celebrate graduation virtually and show their classmates they still matter, and their accomplishment matters.
As members of Henry Wise Wood High School’s grad committee, Claire and Jane — along with many of their classmates, teachers and school staff — are putting together a video tribute for graduation.
They’re compiling highlights from the year before and after COVID-19 arrived so suddenly, including unique, personal footage from students studying at home during stay-at-home orders.
Graduation gift bags are also being put together for pick up on the last day of school. When kids arrive to drop off textbooks, they will receive the bag, while still socially distancing.
The bags will include graduation caps, Grade 12 certificates and a special yearbook dedicated to Grade 12s only.
The Hopkins family also planned their own special night at home, the girls say, cooking a special dinner, dressing up and taking photos.
Wise Wood principal Michelle Howell says the video will also include important speeches, including the school valedictorian.
“The kids are so sad that we’re missing doing this; it’s heartbreaking for all of us. But I’m so proud of what they’re doing and coming up with for virtual ideas.”
Many other high schools will also put together online tributes, highlight videos and gift bags with graduation goodies for pick up.
Some are planning live virtual events dedicated to a specific day, so that students can tune in and watch speeches, videos and share photos at the same time.
The Catholic district is also working on the possibility of a live feed that would include speeches, videos and a special mass from Bishop William Mcgrattan in early June.
Others are adding their own special touches to the virtual video feeds to honour the grads and their teachers.
Bishop Carroll High School is also considering a “Red Carpet” drive-by graduation event in early June with plans to set up a staging point on school grounds, allowing students to drive by with their parents, run out to the stage for a quick photo in dress clothes, cap and gown, and then wave to the cheers of friends and family members from other vehicles.
When grads stop for their photo, they can also drop off a gift for a staff member at the staging point, a critical connection for Bishop Carroll students whose unique self-directed learning program has seen them build close relationships with teachers.
“This would be a really fun event, but it would also be a good way to honour our teachers who have become so important to us,” said Catherine Betancourt-lee, who will leave a special gift for her English teacher who gave her so much one-on-one time to improve her writing.
“I remember sitting with her for hours sometimes; she would go through my writing, edit it, help me to make it better,” Betancourt-lee said. “Even if I had bad days writing in the test centre, she would sit with me and let me do rewrites to improve my skills.”
It’s been the sudden end to so many of those personal connections that has made missing a traditional grad this year especially difficult, said Garry Tink, principal at the new Joane Cardinal Schubert High School, which opened its doors to this year’s grads in the fall of 2017.
“This is the school’s first-ever graduating class which adds another layer to the pain that students and staff are feeling right now,” he said. “We’ve been preparing for this for three years and now we can’t do it.”
The school’s grad video will include speeches, music from the school band and speeches from other students with parents responding. The school is also working on a unique “legacy gift” asking grads to construct their own personal message or work of art on a four-by-four inch tile of wood.
Those tiles will then be built into a circular structure at the school permanently, called “The Circle of Courage” as a tribute honouring the 2020 graduating class.
“This is important to us, to make sure these kids know they will never be forgotten,” Tink said.
“We’re so proud of them, they’ve faced so much adversity, anxiety. But they’ve really showed determination.”
John Mcdonald, an area superintendent with CCSD who sits on the senior high schools principals’ council, says the innovation of each school’s virtual grad effort is a tribute to the resiliency of these classes.
“Graduation isn’t just a walk on a stage. It’s a celebration of community, a celebration of all the hard work and all the relationships you’ve formed over many, many years of schooling,” he said.
CCSD officials are also asking parents to mark the occasion of grad at home this spring with a special dinner, getting dressed up and taking photos.
Some students are also looking forward to the fall and the possibilities of gathering with their graduating class once again at schools.
Israa Hassan, valedictorian at Lester Pearson High School, is looking to organize a graduation get together sometime in September or October, if and when schools open to students again.
Plans are to gather on a non-instructional day, when the school is otherwise empty, and celebrate in the gym, or with an outdoor barbecue.
“It would be amazing to all just be back together again, at the school,” says Israa, who is still fine-tuning the valedictorian speech, but knows a good part of it will pay tribute to the creativity and resiliency of classmates.
Among the 500-plus Lester Pearson graduates from northeast communities like Rundle, Whitehorn and Taradale, Israa says the school has an incredible diversity, many of them new Canadians, which makes them even more resilient.
“Our differences don’t separate us, they bring us together,” Israa says. “We’ve all faced some real difficulties, but we stayed positive, we stuck together and we got through it.
“We should be really proud of that.”