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This year’s high school graduation ceremony is currently planned to take place on Friday, May 28. It will be broadcast, and there will be overflow seating in case maximum capacity is reached. Seniors must have 28 credits to graduate.
The graduating class of 2020 was not able to participate in a traditional graduation ceremony last year due to COVID 19. Instead, the faculty organized a recorded commencement ceremony that was broadcast on Channel 10. Students drove through the school parking lot to pick up their di-
plomas and bid farewell to NS for the last time.
“Navigating graduation through a worldwide pandemic was not ideal,” said Graduation Committee Chair Rickie Stewart. “However, we worked really hard to try to make it the best experience we could and recognize kids for their accomplishments.”
In a normal year, seniors have a final week full of activities leading up to graduation itself. Many of those activities
(including a trip to Lagoon, the Senior Ball, and Hawk-stock) were also lost. Fortunately, the plan is currently to continue with graduation as typical for this year’s graduating class.
“Plans for now… we will go ahead and gather the class of 2021,” Stewart said. “We will have our traditional ceremony, which for us looks very different than others, and that’s something we take great pride in.”
The formal proceedings surrounding graduation—which include five student speakers, a formal commencement ceremony, and a retrospect speaker, along with speeches from administrators in the district—are something the NS community cares deeply about.
“[Graduation] and prom are the two things that are still very traditional at our school,” said teacher Catherine Carney. “I’m glad that we’re moving back towards normalcy, and that we’re going to pack that gym.”
Carney is the Senior Committee’s liaison with Jostens, and each year she reviews and procures the gowns needed for graduation. In recent years, the staff and administration have been allowed to participate in graduation itself, which impacts their experiences significantly.
“Teachers and staff now attend the ceremony,” Stewart said, “in their gowns as well, to celebrate the accomplishments of the students and to be able to congratulate them in person, which I think is important.”
Teachers who have not received college degrees wear a simple black robe. Once a teacher graduates from college, they add a hood, and after receiving a master’s degree, they wear long sleeves and hoods to the ceremony.
As of right now, masks will still be required to participate in the ceremony itself. In addition, each senior will
be COVID tested twice in the week leading up to the ceremony. With these limitations, administrators and students alike are hopeful that everything will go smoothly as it would on a regular year.
“The ceremony has remained the same for the last 80 years,” Stewart said. “We take great pride in the formal-
ity of it, and it’s a great way to celebrate students for their accomplishments. We’re excited to put forth our best effort for our students, because they deserve it, especially after a year like this.”
COVID-19 impacted the end of last school year terribly. Mercifully, NS is now able to hold a graduation that will provoke nostalgia and greatness from all those involved.
“To get to the point where we can do some of these things, and celebrate them the way they deserve to be celebrated,” Stewart said, “that will always be the goal. To make sure that students understand how much we celebrate with them, and how much we want them to succeed.”
