Imagine not being able to walk the stage for your high school graduation, that’s a real possibility for many seniors because of the coronavirus.
On Thursday, Gov. Cuomo gave schools the thumbs up to hold drive-in or drive through graduation ceremonies, but some local districts are holding out hope their kids can walk the stage.
News10NBC reached out to several schools to compile this list so far:
In Fairport, they’ve boiled it down to two plans.
One would include in-person events like a senior picnic and senior ball, and a graduation ceremony on their turf field- or at another open venue to allow for physical distance.
The second plan would include a virtual ceremony where students would still be allowed to pose for pictures and walk the stage, but a traditional ceremony would then be taped and presented afterward.
“For our kids, our hearts are breaking, that this is an important rite of passage, parents have thought about it since the day they sent them off to kindergarten,” said Fairport High School principal Bob Clark. “So I think we kind of owe it to them to do our due diligence.”
“Families will be invited to IHS to take pictures of your graduate walking the
stage and receiving their diploma. Up to 5 family members are welcome to come watch the graduate cross the stage and take pictures. We need to limit the number of people to balance the joy of the
event with the safety for all. IHS staff will use the video captured to build a virtual ceremony, along with
traditional graduation speakers which will be broadcast on Sunday, June 28th (details to follow).
Starting Saturday, June 20th, families will be invited to report at their arranged time. It is important that you arrive on time so that all graduates and families have the opportunity to participate.”
“We surveyed all our families and presented graduation options for them to choose from. Overwhelmingly, seniors from our four high schools picked the same option. Greece seniors signed up for 30-minute time slots next week to graduate at the Greece Central Performing Arts Center at Athena (where they traditionally graduate). Groups of 10 seniors at a time will graduate in front of up to 10 family members apiece. Each family will have a designated spot in the auditorium to honor social distancing requirements. Then, on the date that students were to have graduated, footage of the individual graduations, as well as speeches from select faculty and staff members, will be aired via Zoom for students, families and community members to view.”
The graduations begin on Tuesday, June 9.
The Rochester City School District is planning a variety of different ceremonies across its high schools, ranging from drive-through ceremonies to car parades and virtual ceremonies.
The Hilton Central School District hosted six days of individual graduation ceremonies.
The Webster School District has not announced graduation plans yet, but ‘are working on different options.’
Fairport listed Frontier Field as a possible outdoor venue, though, in a statement, spokesman Nate Rowan said:
“At this point, we still can’t move forward with any definite plans to do ANYTHING inside the ballpark until we get to phase 4. I have spoken to some schools about the possibility but we cannot lock anything up until we get to phase 4 and until we get the go ahead from health and elected officials. So at this point we just don’t know and we won’t until late June at the earliest.”
— whec