You are here: inches away from the halfway point of the year.
Hard to believe it’s almost June, or “My gosh it’s still just May”?
The perspective may depend on if you’re an adult of certain age or a student in a particular grade level.
It was around this time 12 months ago we collectively didn’t know what graduation for thousands of high schools seniors would look like.
Years of hard work and sacrifice by parents and students alike were upended in March 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic forced school closures. How long campuses would be closed wasn’t known but it felt that an ultra optimistic outlook saw kids in their caps and gowns walking and waving in stadiums by June.
Hindsight tells us that didn’t happen.
Eventually district administrators and schools worked together to cobble together some kind of ceremony to mark the rite of passage from high school kid to young adult in the world.
And that’s how the drive-thru commencements were born. Seems fitting given Southern California’s car culture (but the exercise was not exclusive to this portion of the Golden State).
Instead of a processions of students anonymously making their way to a stage to receive their diploma to be cheered on by only a select family and friends, a parade of cars carrying graduates made their way along a parade route, cheered on by seemingly everyone.
Decades after my own high school graduation, I barely recall details of that June day. Something tells me the Class of 2020 will not have the same problem.
That was then. This is now.
Now, as we hit the half way point of 2021 and a year-plus since the pandemic changed the way we do things, the Class of 2021 is preparing for their own milestone.
With COVID-19 cases on the decline and the rate of vaccinations increasing, circumstances are significantly better this year. And safer. But not without risk.
So this year area high schools are planning to host in-person graduation ceremonies, albeit significantly smaller than pre-2019. Graduates will be limited to four invited guests and the number of graduates gathered at one time will be no more than 200.
Things will be different. But they will be in person. Together.
Again.
What a difference a year makes.
