With the COVID-19 pandemic presenting unique challenges a Williams Lake high school has come up with a tentative plan to host a graduation ceremony.
“This is the worst possible situation to be place in, poor graduates. I feel for them and I wish it was different, I truly do,” said Lake City Secondary School principal Craig Munroe of the restrictions allowing no more than 50 people to gather in one place at a time preventing the usual large gathering at the Cariboo Memorial Complex which normally draws about 1,500-plus people. “We are going to try and make this the best for them as possible given the circumstances.”
The proposal for Grad 2020 will see the approximate 200 grads divided into four groups of 50.
Students in each group would arrive in vehicles and walk down the sidewalk toward the front of the school where they will participate in a grad ceremony.
“We would do their presentation, read their grad bio, give them any scholarships and bursaries, and do all the formalities with photos and then they would proceed to walk up the other side of the bus loop back into their vehicle and they would leave,” he explained.
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The hope is that every grad will be able to find a chauffeur because when they get out of the vehicle the driver will need to move the vehicle to where they will pick up the grad on the other side.
Any family members inside the vehicle will be permitted to get out and stand and watch their graduate’s individual presentation, but it will be limited to how many people can fit in one vehicle and no buses will be allowed.
“We are really hamstrung by this banning of more than 50 people so we are trying to control the amount of people in one area,” Munroe said.
The events will take place from 10 a.m to noon and 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. on Thursday, June 18 and Friday, June 19.
“If you are in the 10 to 12 grouping we will probably say you can expect to be on between 10 and 10:30 or 11:00 to 11:30 so they would not have to show up and be sitting in the parking lot in a vehicle for an extended period of time.”
Munroe shared the tentative plan with graduates and parents last week and so far has received ‘lots’ of positive feedback but there has been some negative as well.
“Some people are very upset the situation does not allow for the traditional grad ceremony and for that we are truly all upset. I cannot host an event with more than 50 people.”
He said people have suggested options such as using the sports field or the Williams Lake Stampede Grounds because they are outside, but the problem is as soon as he starts congregating more than 50 people he is in violation of the the provincial health authority’s orders.
“If I did plan for that it would fail very quickly because so many people would stay and watch and not only are their families watching but then there’d be so many more watching.”
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Every event will be video taped to put together a keepsake for the grads and the school is exploring the possibility of whether the events can be live-streamed.
Lake City Secondary School staff kept an ear on what other communities in B.C. are proposing for grad to come up with one that might work for Williams Lake.
“I understand the plan we have is similar to one running in Vernon. Some districts are using drive-in theatres to do theirs, everybody is being contained in their vehicle but we don’t have one here and trying to find one place where we could park literally 200 vehicles is a challenge.”
The school will be trying to secure event tents to set up outside as well just in case the weather does not co-operate.
“We pushed it back another week trying to hope for as good a chance for great weather, but also if there is an easing of the physical distancing protocols by then, we can try and incorporate all of those changes as much as we can. Yet listening to Dr. Bonnie Henry it does not seem that large gatherings are going to be permitted at all, well into summer.”
If someone does not want to arrive in a vehicle they could just walk through as well.
Anyone without a vehicle will also be accommodated with the school finding someone to drive them.
Additionally students can choose to wear their grad dress or suit or a cap and gown. It will be up to them.
Earlier Monday, the Williams Lake Dry Grad committee posted on its Facebook page that the originally planned event for June 13 is cancelled due to COVID-19 provincial restrictions.
Munroe confirmed the number of scholarships and bursaries will be as many as previous years as that has not been impacted by the pandemic.
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