Celebrating grad without crowds

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This article was published 11/06/2020 (2151 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Traditional graduation ceremonies may not currently be possible, but a couple of Westman school divisions have figured out how to still celebrate their graduates’ achievements.

Beautiful Plains School Division and Rolling River School Division have both found socially distanced ways to give students and their families special moments while staying within COVID-19 guidelines.

Rolling River School Division operates high schools in Elton, Erickson, Minnedosa and Rivers while Beautiful Plains operates two high schools, one in Carberry and one in Neepawa.

Neepawa Collegiate is going to have two or three drive-in graduation ceremonies with fewer than 50 graduates each on June 27, Beautiful Plains assistant superintendent Krista Reynolds said.

“Each graduate will receive their diploma in an outdoor tent, and the ceremony will be broadcasted live through YouTube,” Reynolds said. Families will be allowed to get a picture of their graduate as they accept their diploma.

All graduates in the division have also received signs they can display on their lawn or in a window to show off their achievement. Reynolds said some families in Carberry ordered personalized signs for their graduates.

At Carberry Collegiate, students are being allowed inside by appointment to accept their diplomas over June 24 and 25. Each graduate will be allotted a 15-minute block with each ceremony also being recorded so they can be combined into a video that will be posted on the school’s website and aired on the local access television channel. School awards will be handed out in a virtual ceremony on June 25.

The town of Carberry is also providing its own gesture toward its graduates with citizens holding a parade in their honour on June 25. Pictures of graduates have also been hung from light poles in town.

One of Carberry Collegiate’s graduates is Rachel Penner, who will be riding a horse and carriage in the parade with her best friend, Jayme Dyck.

“I’m excited that there’s going to be a parade,” Penner said. “It’s kind of a bummer that we can’t do the rest of grad, but at least we’re having something.”

Penner said she’s a little disappointed traditional celebrations can’t be held this year, but she knows it was out of her school’s control and is glad that something is still being done. “There’s a few girls that are a little bit more upset than others because their dresses cost so much.”

She said some of the money that was going to go toward her school’s graduation ceremony is instead being spent to decorate floats for the parade.

In September, Penner is going to Canadian Mennonite University in Winnipeg to study biology and play for the school’s volleyball team as a right-side hitter. Eventually, Penner wants to get a graduate degree in physical therapy.

“Every school is doing something a little bit different, but there are some common threads,” Rolling River Supt. Mary-Anne Ploshynsky said. She added all of her division’s celebrations will meet public health guidelines and the planning meetings for them were held over the internet to promote distancing. Individual schools will have unique elements to each of their ceremonies.

Minnedosa Collegiate, Elton Collegiate and Rivers Collegiate are holding their ceremonies on June 26 while Erickson Collegiate is holding theirs on June 29.

“I need to acknowledge what a challenge and a hardship and a disappointment this would have initially been for our graduates and their families and their friends,” Ploshynsky said. “This is an important milestone that we all look forward to celebrating and it really is in small communities a big event. But I’m so proud of how our students have made the best of this situation.”

Videos containing congratulatory messages from each school’s principal as well as dignitaries such as division trustees are being made. They will also include personalized messages for each graduate. Personalized lawn signs have been sent out or will be sent out to all graduates in the division.

Caps and gowns have been purchased so that families can take photos as well as provide graduates with keepsakes. Ordinarily, graduation photos would have been taken at each school, but that hasn’t been possible during COVID-19.

Some schools in Rolling River, such as Erickson Collegiate, will assign individual students and their families a time to drive up to the school, pick up their diploma and awards on the front steps and receive socially distanced congratulations from staff.

Ploshynsky said Minnedosa Collegiate is likely to hold its in-person, distanced ceremony at the local conference centre. Also, she said, Elton Collegiate will likely have a ceremony focusing more on online elements.

“The bottom line is all the kids across Rolling River School Division will have their diplomas and awards in their hands by the end of this June,” she said. “Because of course, their lives continue on in September and we want to have the awards and diploma so they can proceed on their life’s journey.”

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