Northeast schools and parents planning for alternative grad celebrations

MUCC Principal Jerry Heffernan said planning a virtual graduation ceremony has been more stressful than the in-person process.

“We had no idea if the ministry would open up the guidelines a little more for us to do something in person,” Heffernan said. “It’s certainly way more work for a couple of our staff members who have graciously volunteered to put all this together. It’s time-consuming and difficult logistically.”

MUCC’s virtual graduation will have a similar agenda to its traditional in-person ceremony. A PowerPoint presentation to showcase MUCC graduates will kick off the festivities, followed by speeches by dignitaries, scholarship winners, and the valedictorian speech. The virtual graduation will be on MUCC’s website at 10 a.m. on Monday, June 29.

Heffernan hopes MUCC faculty can celebrate in-person with the Class of 2020 in the fall if it’s safe to do so. He noted that a parent committee has tentatively booked off a week in November – when some post-secondary institutions are on reading break – for a graduation banquet, if gathering restrictions are lifted.

“If that is the case and guidelines are lifted, we would definitely try and go in conjunction with them and try to do something during that time,” he said.

Tisdale Middle and Secondary School

Tisdale Middle and Secondary School (TMSS) Principal Carmen Messer said there are still a few loose ends for their graduation ceremony.

“We’re trying to still have a personal component to it, which is difficult for a school our size,” Messer said. “We have 56 grads this year. It’s giving them a little bit of a voice too in what’s going on. The hardest part for us was trying to take what’s normally a program during a banquet and a program during the evening ceremony and condense it into a video that people will be entertained and watch for an hour or so.”

TMSS’ graduation will also feature addresses and scholarship winners, although there are a few niche items on the agenda that needs some extra planning.

Traditionally, TMSS graduates host a “class album” where they roast one another and vote on a “class song” that they sing at the end of the ceremony. For the Class of 2020, the students voted on the song of their choice and they’ll have the option to be part of their own video to be played during the ceremony.

“They show us their grad outfit, tell us who they are and their future plans, as they’re virtually passing a diploma,” Messer said. “The class song is being played in the background, but they’re not actually singing it like they normally would at the end of our traditional program.”

The virtual ceremony will be released on TMSS’ website at noon on Saturday, June 27. Messer said it will allow families to watch at their own leisure.

“I know some families are getting together to do a celebration and they’re going to watch it,” she said. “We wanted to offer it early enough that if people wanted to do that in the afternoon or in the evening, then that was completely up to them. We knew this year [celebrating with family] was going to be a special component of their grad celebration more important than ever.”

L.P. Miller Comprehensive School

L.P. Miller Comprehensive School in Nipawin will host their virtual ceremony on Monday, June 29, at 3 p.m on their website.

However, the graduates’ parents could have another alternate ceremony earlier in the day.

A Grad 2020 Parade proposal was sent to Nipawin council ahead of the Community Development Standing Committee meeting on June 10. The proposal said the parade would feature between 16 to 25 vehicles with one driver per vehicle to showcase the 71 graduates. There would be no graduates or parents walking or riding in golf carts.

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aaron.schulze@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @SchulzePANow

by Aaron Schulze

Northeast schools and parents planning for alternative grad celebrations

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