Schools in the area are making preparations for the 2021 graduation ceremonies. While some schools have laid out tentative plans, others are waiting for government guidance before making preparations.
With the current Covid-19 restrictions, students and staff at Rocanville School are making plans to hold an outdoor graduation ceremony for the class of 2021.
Principal of Rocanville School Nathan Bromm explains the school is planning to prerecord as much as possible to minimize physical contact and maintain a social distance.
While the plans are still being worked on, Bromm says students and staff hope to have grad speeches and awards both prerecorded for the ceremony.
“We’re making plans while not knowing what’s going to all roll out with Covid. We have a joint plan and I’m working with the high school staff and our parents and graduates to set up a lot of things that can be done digitally in hopes that we will be able to gather at an outdoor venue and share some of those things and have some type of a ceremony. That’s what we’re doing right now as far as speeches and awards and all those things that you’d traditionally have. We’re hoping to prerecord everything and then find a location outside, if and when Covid-19 allows, where we can meet and have some type of a grad procession as well as a parade around the community,” Bromm said.
“In our school, we traditionally would have a full catered meal at the hall and then go to the grad ceremonies after, but we can’t do anything like that. The grads have determined that regardless of the restrictions, they didn’t want to plan a meal and then possibly have to cancel it or restrict it so much that they could only have their grad class there and not their family. So they decided they wouldn’t do anything of that sort,” Bromm explained.
“With the current restrictions, there will be a parade where people can view it from a social distance and then have everything prerecorded. If we aren’t allowed to gather, then the prerecorded part would be sent out to the graduates and the families and it would also be put up on our site for anybody who wants to view it. If we can have a reasonable number of people allowed in an area, we would view those all together and we’d like to set up some type of stage where we could view those digital parts and have the grads names called out and have some type of an MC to have them walk across the stage and get their diploma. They might not be able to shake hands, but we can have myself and other representatives from the school on one side of the stage and the grads on the other.”
Last year due to emerging Covid-19 restrictions, Rocanville School was unable to partake in any graduation ceremonies.
Because of this, it was up to parents and students to find a way to celebrate.
“Last year it was very limited. The grads and their parents organized a parade on their own because last year the restrictions were not allowing the schools to participate in any form. So they organized a parade around town and then we put together a care package for each grad. It was a box that had their diploma, their awards, a letter all signed by the staff acknowledging their accomplishments, as well as some engraved water bottles with the school logo. It was just a bunch of little things to help brighten their day because we couldn’t be there with them,” explained Bromm.
Bromm says that it is important to celebrate graduation and the growth of the students.
“I think it’s just the acknowledgment of 12 or 13 years of working towards this goal. It’s about seeing them grow from children into young adults and celebrating and recognizing that achievement as they move on to post-secondary or to the workforce. It’s acknowledging the growth that their parents and teachers have worked through with them and watched them develop into young adults. It’s just a celebration of that, of 13 years of development and hard work to get there.”
Because of COID-19 restrictions preventing a normal graduation ceremony, the Parent’s Committee has begun planning for a parade similar to what was done last year.
Co-chair of the Parents Committee Amanda Watson, whose daughter is graduating high school at Rocanville School, says the parents and students are optimistic they will be able to have a parade to celebrate the graduates.
“We are looking at holding a parade in the afternoon for the community. Obviously, it is weather and restrictions dependant, but we are pretty comfortable that we should be able to go forward with the parade as long as there are no mass gatherings. We’re really in our preliminary planning stages,” Watson said.
While there will be some changes to the parade, Watson says it should look very similar to last year’s parade the students and parents put together.
“It will be pretty similar to last year’s parade, the biggest difference being that they are going to be on parade floats, whereas last year they were in personal vehicles. That’s one of our changes, the other change will be that if we are not permitted to carry on with our ceremony that there’s potential that we might tie the ceremony into the parade with announcements through an intercom system to give a little more context to the graduates.
“Last year it was just a parade so we’re just trying to figure out ways to tie in more information about the graduates for those community members that are watching.”
Fundraising is already underway for the 2021 grad parade and a Chase the Ace fundraiser has been completed.
“We’re really lucky to live in the community of Rocanville, we’re on our second fundraiser already. The first fundraiser was a successful sellout and so we’ve moved onto our second one and we’re having very good community fundraising for that as well.”
Watson hopes that between the parade and outdoor ceremony the teachers and parents can provide a bit of normalcy for the students after a difficult year.
“We have a grad committee that is working really hard to try to ensure there is a little bit of normalcy for our kids but we’re kind of grasping at straws on it. If we could just give even a little bit of normalcy for their grad, whether that’s receiving their diploma or the parade where they can show off their dresses and their suits and everything else. They’re a pretty flexible grad class and I have been pretty proud of their adaptability through it all. We’re just trying to give them as much as we possibly can,” Watson concluded.
Celebrations for graduation in Rocanville are scheduled for June 29th.
