With proms canceled and graduation ceremonies postponed, parents, teachers and others are looking for opportunities to celebrate the Class of 2020 despite the global pandemic that has the state under a stay-at-home order.
So, what could have been a routine distribution of caps and gowns to Lake County high school seniors, is now going to become a parking lot pep rally!
The excitement starts at Tavares High School on Monday, April 20. While practicing social distancing, seniors will come to campus and drive through to pick up their caps and gowns from their cars. Staff will be parked in front of the school — also practicing social distancing guidelines — with signs posted and music playing. Each senior will also receive a graduation sign to display at home, proudly recognizing them as a member of the Class of 2020.
The Tavares High pickups are scheduled from 10 a.m. to 12 noon and from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. on Monday, April 20.
A similar celebration is scheduled at East Ridge High on April 27 from 8:30 a.m. to noon.
These celebrations are just the beginning. Superintendent Diane Kornegay assured seniors in a recent open letter that there are more recognition events to come, and the Lake County School Board this week redistributed $14,000 to help pay for them.
“While we do not know when and where graduation ceremonies will take place just yet, we can promise that as soon as it is safe to do so, we will make sure that the Class of 2020 receives the recognition and the celebration that you so greatly deserve,” Kornegay wrote in her April 7 letter to the class. “We will do everything within our power to ensure that you have one last high school memory and one last chance to say goodbye to your teachers and classmates. As a school district, we also want one last chance to say congratulations and best wishes to you, a group of students who have achieved much and lost out on some of the once-in-a-lifetime memories that the final year of high school brings.”
