By Katelyn Lam, Staff Writer
On February 19, a town hall meeting was held to discuss the upcoming graduation for the class of 2021. The meeting, presented by Ms.Duszynski, Ms. Schlax, Ms.Dove and Ms. Seto, gave parents and students an overview of the senior preparations for the rest of the year. Along with around 40 parent and student participants, the admin team discussed the upcoming graduation and the unlikelihood of a traditional graduation. Even though quarantine has messed up many students last year of highschool, admin is determined to try and make the best of graduation no matter how unconventional it may turn out to be.
The administration does most of the planning, like sending out tickets to families, and organizing the speeches given by students. This year, their roles and responsibilities are slightly different. Instead of hosting it on the football field with the band there, everything will have to be either virtual or figure out how to fit an entire grade on the football field while maintaining social distancing. Although a lot can be done virtually, it just doesn’t have the same feeling as a traditional graduation has, with students usually going up one by one and hearing speeches prepared by some of them. Grad night is usually planned by a group of senior parents, and while that has not been canceled yet, the options are slim for places that could accommodate that many students now.
Ms.Schlax presented a slideshow picturing the county health tiers and what events they could possibly hold within those tiers. Everything related to graduation all depends on the public health state of our county once the date shows up. As of right now, three options for graduation are available. In person, hybrid, which would consist of walking around center court and picking up their diplomas, or go fully virtual. The health tiers will end up deciding which one will be picked. Whichever option ends up being chosen, there will still be lots of planning involved to make it safe for all parties attending as we are still in the middle of a global health crisis. Even if it’s possible to have an in person graduation, it would come with complications like how to social distance or where they would be able to fit everyone. The only decision that has been made, at this point, is that a traditional graduation is no longer an option.
Delving deeper into the possibility of an in person graduation, they still plan on having a virtual aspect for relatives who may not be able to attend, like a video or livestream. High School graduation is a big milestone in anyone’s life and for families to miss it because of the pandemic is disappointing to say the least. Events like prom have been cancelled already and the health tiers don’t seem to be getting better fast enough. Even though other places have started opening back up, it’s just too risky to have lots of students and parents or relatives in one place at the same time. A survey was sent out to get peoples opinions for graduation as well as senior night activities. They are still planning on having a Senior grad night although nothing has been confirmed. People were able to ask questions on a padlet, during the town hall, and the admin team answered them live. Many people wanted more specifics on what graduation would look like in relation to the specific tiers, but no definite answer has been given yet. Mills will still try to give the seniors everything they would normally get as graduating students, but the actual graduation would just be different.
Info on the Senior Town Hall meeting can be found under the Class of 2021 updates page on the Mills website. They are planning to release the slideshow from the meeting for anyone who wants to check it out.
