NorHum to hold virtual graduation ceremony
The Northern Humboldt Union High School District board on Wednesday during a virtual special session discussed how to host a graduation ceremony amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Superintendent Roger Macdonald said the district will hold a virtual commencement ceremony for its schools, including Arcata, McKinleyville, and Six Rivers Charter high schools.
The virtual ceremony will include commencement addresses from district teachers and administrators, and will be shown live on YouTube and later on Access Humboldt.
During the day of the livestream ceremony, students will be invited one at a time to drive by their high schools and pick up their diplomas.
“We want families to be able to be together, ” Macdonald said. “I think that would make for a better experience.”
Macdonald noted that other area high schools had or intend to hold drive-in graduation ceremonies. Macdonald said the size of the NHUHSD as well as the potential for a drive-in event to be upended by even one non socially-distant complying student made the idea unfeasible for the district.
“We just don’t have the space to do that for our district,” he said.
Currently, community members are working on obtaining and then hanging posters of McKinleyville’s senior graduates along the town’s main drag.
Macdonald said another impetus for the virtual commencement arose from not wanting to chance losing out on a promotion ceremony.
“We wanted to guarantee we’d have an event on the day of graduation,” he said.
Safe and Sober committees from Arcata and McKinleyville are working on “swag bags” for graduating seniors, which will be available during the driveup portion of commencement.
South Fork High, like Fortuna High, plans to hold a drive-in ceremony for its senior class.
Eureka High is aiming to hold a graduation ceremony at the end of July with the hope that COVID-19 restrictions will have been eased enough to allow for in-person activities.