New Westminster Secondary School wasn’t about to let a pandemic rob the Class of 2020 of its moment in the spotlight.
NWSS grads had a chance to mark the occasion in style – with caps, gowns, stage walk and all - during a special series of socially distanced ceremonies at the Anvil Centre over three days last week.
John Lekakis, NWSS vice-principal, said the school wanted to make sure its grads had a chance to mark the occasion despite the constraints on public gatherings surrounding COVID-19.
“After 13 years dedicated to learning and pushing themselves to grow, our students deserved to walk a stage and honour that hard work, especially after battling through this unusually challenging end to their year,” he said.
Leadership and staff at the high school surveyed graduates and families and then worked long hours to quickly pull together graduation plans that included both live and virtual portions.
The live ceremonies ran Tuesday, June 2 to Thursday, June 4, and students had a chance to sign up for a time slot throughout the day, between 10 in the morning and 6:30 in the evening. Each time slot made room for five to 10 students, so grads who were so inclined could choose to share the moment with friends.
About 400 of the school’s 500-strong graduating class chose to walk the stage. (The school district notes the other hundred included international students who are finishing their year remotely, some who didn’t feel comfortable with the arrangements, and some who simply chose not to.)
Those who did turn out were allowed to bring two guests, and each group was organized into half-hour time slots so that, at any given time, no more than 50 people (including production crew and staff) would be in the same physical space.
The whole event took place on the main floor of the Anvil Centre. Families arrived in the lobby with a chance to take photos and have grads get into their caps and gowns; then they were welcomed into the ceremony room and asked to stand in order (on physically distanced marked spots) to await their stage walk.
Students’ names, along with a quote they’d supplied to organizers, were then read out as they took their turns walking across the stage. Principal Murray McLeod stepped up to pose for a photo with each grad, then stepped out again to allow safe passing space for the students.
Each group of students remained in the room to cheer on the rest of their group, then families were ushered into the next room for a formal portrait of the grad and/or their family.
All the ceremonies were professionally filmed, along with music from a bagpiper, dignitary speeches and speeches from two grad class valedictorians, Kip Guthrie and Tasfiyah Kabir, who were selected from 14 students who put their name forward for consideration.
The whole thing is being edited together for a live viewing on June 25.
“Graduation is a rite of passage … a moment as adults so many of us look back on as a milestone in our journey,” school district superintendent Karim Hachlaf said. “So, despite what’s happening in the world right now, we wanted our students to have their own moment to hold onto. And that’s what happened as we welcomed beaming students to walk across the stage, with their proud parents and others there to cheer them on.”
Hachlaf pointed out New Westminster was in a unique position when planning its grad ceremonies.
“As a small district, and the only one in the Lower Mainland with only one high school, there was both a little more pressure and a little more ability to deliver something special,” he said. “We’re so proud of how hard our staff worked to go above and beyond to make sure our students and their families got to have that moment together, though spaced apart.”
For more images from the celebrations at Anvil Centre, see a photo gallery here.
