Class of 2020: Christmas, staggered graduations?

How about a graduation for the high school class of 2020 on Christmas break?

That may seem like a long time away, but it’s an option being considered by administrators at Bishop Hendricken High School if restrictions on gatherings haven’t been lifted by the scheduled graduation date of June 12 or a delayed date of July 23.

A Christmas graduation is one of several possibilities school officials are considering now that Gov. Gina Raimondo has acted to keep school buildings closed and continue distance learning through the current academic year. Other possibilities being actively discussed by both public and private school officials include drive-in graduations that would be akin to a drive-in movie, staggered graduations assuming restrictions on gatherings is partially lifted, a virtual graduation, or a combination of these.

There’s consensus that while these are unique times, the class of 2020 deserves something special and that their moment in the spotlight should not be sacrificed because of COVID-19.

“[The graduates] deserve the opportunity of walking across the stage,” William McCaffrey, Warwick director of secondary education, said Tuesday. With guidance from the Department of Health, McCaffrey said the district is looking to adhering to the scheduled June graduation dates with a staggered series of sessions for each of the high schools.

If the experience in Wilton, Iowa, is a reliable indicator, the class of 2020 may well decide what they want and, apart from a formal sanctioned ceremony, take matters into their own hands. During a webinar conducted by Creative Circle, the website provider for Beacon Communications and scores of papers across the country, Derek Sawvell, managing editor of the Wilton-Durant Advocate, related how the school board arranged for a virtual graduation where graduates would receive their diplomas during an event with patched in video clips of speeches. Graduates would be appropriately distanced and get to walk across the stage. Each would receive a diploma and a thumb drive of the complete ceremony. Class officers rebelled at the plan, saying they’d had enough of distance learning and wanted to hug their classmates and be together for this important moment in their lives.

Sawvell said the school board scrapped the plan and has yet to come up with an alternative. The situation in Wilton, where the graduating class numbers 60, appears to be more manageable than for many schools in Rhode Island.

McCaffrey said depending on gathering limitations, Warwick is exploring ceremonies at each of the high schools where the graduates would be handed their diplomas. With a loosening on the size of gatherings, McCaffrey said Pilgrim Principal Gerald Habershaw suggested a “series” of smaller graduations where groups as small as 25 would cross the stage to receive their diplomas. This would allow for smaller audiences of family and friends to attend. Plans have not been formalized, but remarks from class officers and city and school officials could be taped and shown of each of the ceremonies and a video of all ceremonies provided to each of the graduates. The senior classes at each of the schools range between 280 and 300 students.

“It’s not fair to take everything away from the students,” McCaffrey said of the events, including the prom, enjoyed by the graduating class.

McCaffrey said Habershaw was prepared to endure whatever number of times Edward Elgar’s “Pomp and Circumstance” would need to be played to see that graduates had that moment of walking across the stage.

Hendricken Principal Mark DiCiccio said a late summer or early fall commencement was ruled out since many graduates would have already started their next phase of education and not be able to attend. On the other hand, most would be home at Christmas. Additionally, the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul in Providence, where the school traditionally conducts graduation, would be beautifully decorated for Christmas. A concern raised by some on hearing of the Hendricken plan is that that time of year also coincides with the start of the flu season.

DiCiccio said the school has a task force to “see that the historic class of 2020 is cared about and thought about.”

The school is moving ahead with its traditional senior breakfast on June 7, a prerecorded virtual event with the exception of a live-streamed mass and remarks from key individuals that will celebrate achievements in the areas of academics, athletics and the arts.

DiCiccio imagines many of the remarks will focus on resilience and “grit.” He said he plans to talk about these tumulus times drawing a parallel to the biblical story of the disciples when hit by a storm as they were fishing on the Sea of Galilee. The disciples feared for their lives, but Jesus reminded them he was with them and they were safe.

Hendricken arts director Richard Sylvia is overseeing the production.

Similar productions using photographs of the graduates, video-recorded speeches and scenes from the academic year could be used in place of commencement ceremonies.

Yet another alternative that McCaffrey doubts would work because students would leave their cars is a drive-in graduation.

This concept caught the imagination of Lorna Ricci, recently retired director of the Ocean State Council on Independent Living. Using the giant inflatable screen the Central Rhode Island Chamber of Commerce has used for its summer series of outdoor movies at Rocky Point, Ricci proposed holding the ceremony at the CCRI Knight Campus parking lot as it is on a hill, enabling those in cars to view the screen. In place of students decorating their caps, she suggested they decorate the tops of their cars and that drones not only record the creations but also share them on screen during the event.