{"id":35300,"date":"2020-06-01T07:00:42","date_gmt":"2020-06-01T14:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/laneelectric.com\/?p=35300"},"modified":"2020-06-01T07:05:36","modified_gmt":"2020-06-01T14:05:36","slug":"graduating-during-a-pandemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/laneelectric.com\/graduating-during-a-pandemic\/","title":{"rendered":"Graduating During a Pandemic"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lowell and Oakridge classes of 2020 finish school careers in unexpected way<\/p>\n

By Craig Reed<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Group
The Oakridge senior class.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The seniors in the Class of 2020 are going to have unique memories of their final year. Unlike past years, there\u2019s expected to be no graduation ceremony, no skip day, no senior trip, no senior pranks, no baccalaureate service, and no final day of classes filled with hugs and well wishes for this year\u2019s high school seniors.<\/p>\n

The coronavirus health crisis and the \u201cStay home, stay safe,\u201d order canceled the remainder of the 2019-2020 school year and those special events that honor the senior class.<\/p>\n

Lowell High School senior Melinda Winters and Oakridge High School senior Hunter Ketch agree the situation for themselves and their senior friends is frustrating and disappointing, but that \u201cit is what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lowell has a senior class of 32. Oakridge\u2019s class of 2020 numbers 36.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think for the most part everybody is doing pretty well,\u201d Melinda says. \u201cWe\u2019ve talked about how this could have happened, but we\u2019ve also talked about staying calm for another two to three months and hopefully this will have blown over by then.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hunter says the seniors miss seeing each other.<\/p>\n

\"Group
Senior members of the Lowell football team and coach Pat Todd, right.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cMost of us realize those special events are just not going to happen,\u201d he says. \u201cWe\u2019re each pretty much just doing our own thing now. We missed out on saying our goodbyes, on hanging out together.\u201d<\/p>\n

These feelings and thoughts are prevalent at all high schools, where there are usually numerous events and parties to celebrate the graduation of young adults who are ready to move on to another stage of life, whether that is the workforce, college, or the military.<\/p>\n

Graduation ceremonies are a highlight of the year, especially at smaller schools such as Lowell and Oakridge, where everybody knows everybody and the communities know their students.<\/p>\n

Kay Graham, the Lowell High School principal, and Greg Chapman, the Oakridge High principal, are optimistic the seniors can handle this unique situation. Schools are using technology to stay in touch with seniors, to help them complete graduation requirements and provide online classes for underclassmen.<\/p>\n

\"Eighth
Today\u2019s Lowell seniors on their last day of eighth grade in 2016.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThis particular group has been very responsible its whole high school career,\u201d Kay says. \u201cThey\u2019ve been motivated to meet all their requirements to graduate.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am optimistic that this is just a moment in time for them. It\u2019s hard for them to miss out on the fun things at the end of the year. But they\u2019ve got a good up to 70 years ahead of them. They\u2019ll be fine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Greg says Oakridge staff have used technology to have numerous meetings with each of that school\u2019s seniors. He has been impressed with how well those students are dealing with the situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey largely have positive attitudes,\u201d he says. \u201cThey are concerned, they are disappointed, but they realize it is nothing they could have anticipated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Greg says he has explained to the Oakridge seniors that they\u2019ll have unique memories of this time.<\/p>\n

\"Football
Oakridge senior Hunter Ketch.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cBecause nobody else has gone through this, people are going to be talking about the graduating class of 2020 for years,\u201d he says. \u201cPart of that is because it is weird and part of it is because this community is really rallying around these kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

School administrations, teachers, seniors, parents, and communities have been discussing ways to celebrate their 2020 seniors for several weeks.<\/p>\n

Since it is hard to predict what the health situation will be in late May and early June when most events for seniors are held, options were considered in April. Those options include a drive-thru graduation, a parade with residents applauding the seniors from the sidewalk, or out on a football field with social distancing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe certainly hope to have some sort of ceremony,\u201d Greg says, adding that one student suggested a cap, gown, and mask graduation ceremony.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to celebrate the seniors in some way,\u201d Kay agrees. \u201cWe\u2019ll see how things transpire and then adapt however we need to adapt. We\u2019re not going to lose sight of our seniors and some closure for them for their senior year. We\u2019ll just have to be creative in how we give the seniors special moments that are going to be different.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some communities have put up yard signs, banners, and flags, some of them individualized and some for their respective 2020 class, to recognize the seniors.<\/p>\n

Melinda and Hunter say technology such as Facebook, FaceTime, Zoom, Instagram, Twitter, and email has helped them stay in touch not only with their teachers, but also their friends. Chat groups and online photo galleries for senior students have been set up at some schools.<\/p>\n

Melinda says a schedule has been created so seniors can individually return to their school and add their handprint to the school rock.<\/p>\n

\"Young
Oakridge Senior Class President Madaline Maher.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Most of Lowell\u2019s senior class have been together since kindergarten, so this time of distancing has been especially tough for those longtime friends, Melinda adds.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully, we\u2019ll be able to come back together soon,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Kay expects the 2020 seniors to still have wonderful memories of their high school days and to make the best of how the final months of school evolved.<\/p>\n

\u201cAgain, it\u2019s just a moment in time,\u201d she says. \u201cThese kids will move on quite quickly. They\u2019ve got future plans.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you consider their entire K to 12 career, this virus has just been a blip,\u201d Greg says. \u201cThese seniors are going to go on and be hugely successful as we know most of our kids are. We\u2019ll get through this.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lowell and Oakridge classes of 2020 finish school careers in unexpected way By Craig Reed The seniors in the Class of 2020 are going to have unique memories of their final year. Unlike past years, there\u2019s expected to be no graduation ceremony, no skip day, no senior trip, no senior pranks, no baccalaureate service, and […]\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":35302,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[218,220],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/laneelectric.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35300"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/laneelectric.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/laneelectric.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laneelectric.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laneelectric.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35300"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/laneelectric.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35300\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laneelectric.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/laneelectric.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laneelectric.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laneelectric.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}