How do you hold a mass event like a graduation at a time when mass events are forbidden? Very, very carefully, it turns out.
When in-person school was canceled in March and the cancellation was extended through the end of the summer, administrators at Analy, El Molino and Laguna high schools feared that 2020 might be the year without graduation, but that didn’t feel right so they began looking for other options.
“We were really dedicated to finding an alternative,” said Analy Principal Shauna Ferdinandson. “We wanted to do something that would honor each and every graduate.”
They considered a simple drive-thru graduation, but that wasn’t quite what they were looking for. Ferdinandson said they wanted something where the students “could walk across the stage, get their photo taken, pick up their own diploma. We wanted that individual moment for every single student, so that was a non-negotiable for us.”
The final result, which Ferdinandson said was the result of many people’s contributions, is a kind of amalgam — a drive-thru graduation with a walk-on moment.
At Analy and El Molino, families will line up in their cars in a predetermined (usually alphabetical) order. When they reach the graduation stage, the graduating senior will hop out of the car — in full cap and gown — process across the stage to pick up his or her diploma and get their photo taken, in full view of their families in the car.
Families have to register for the event ahead of time and everyone in the car must take a health quiz (for contact tracing purposes) and wear masks throughout the ceremony. The graduates will be the only ones without a mask. There will be a couple of staff checkpoints at various points along the route. Family members must stay in the car at all times.
Instructions from both El Molino and Analy say that people over the age of 65 or those with pre-existing or high-risk health conditions shouldn’t participate in the event at all, which may disappoint a lot of grandparents in town.
Another component that will be missing from these graduations are the teachers, who unless they are one of the 10 people officiating on the stage, won’t be present because of the limit on the number of people allowed to gather.
It’s an elaborate plan and it was touch-and-go for a while as to whether the school district would get the approval to proceed with this kind of graduation during the pandemic.
“We submitted our plans to the Sonoma County Office of Education and then on to Public Health. Public Health then included our plans in a waiver that was approved by the Board of Supervisors and then sent to the governor for approval. We received approval from the Governor last Thursday,” Superintendent Toni Beal wrote to Sonoma West.
Analy’s graduation: Real and virtual
At Analy, the stage will be set up in front of the school at the main entrance on Analy Avenue. Because of the large number of graduates — 250 — the event will take place over two days (June 2 and 3). Cars carrying graduates and their family will wind around the parking lot that is Analy Avenue, entering and exiting off the spur of North Main Street that runs past the high school.
Every graduate will be filmed picking up their diploma, and a celebratory video will be released the following day as a kind of virtual graduation event on June 4.
“Our video teacher Randy Hall is going to be compiling this video and then we’re going to have the premier, which I’m super excited about, happen when graduation would have really been happening on June 4 at 5:30 p.m. So we’re hoping that the video will really bring it all together: students will have their individual moments on the stage; they’ll hear students’ speeches, and the staff speech and things like that,” Ferdinandson said.
In addition to the traditional decorating of graduation caps, Ferdinandson is encouraging families and students to decorate their car for the event.
“I’m really hoping that people can enjoy the moment for what it is and to kind of build around it … and those who want to decorate their cars can and make it as festive as possible for their graduate,” she said.
El Molino: Same time, same place for graduation but a whole different feel
El Molino decided to hold its drive-thru/walk-on graduation on June 4 on the football field as usual, but that will be the only usual thing about this year’s graduation.
The graduation stage will be set up on the football field, and cars bearing El Mo’s 130 graduates and their families will wind down Covey Road and onto the campus through the southernmost parking lot, then out to the football field where they’ll circle around the track, stopping near the stage. Graduates will then get out of the car, go up on the stage to receive their diplomas and have their photos taken, climb back into their family’s car and exit out the eastern edge of campus to Anderson Road.
Directions from El Molino say graduates and their families are welcome to decorate caps and cars. El Molino is also producing a video of the event that will be made available to all students.
In addition to graduation, El Molino has been honoring graduates with senior spotlights on its Facebook and Instagram. A volunteer has been taking “porch portraits” of graduates and their families. The school also held a virtual senior awards night on May 21, which was broadcast on the TV45 YouTube Channel.
In a letter to parents, dense with instructions about graduation, Principal Matt Dunkle struck an apologetic note.
“We are very excited to be able to offer this opportunity for our graduates and their families,” he wrote. “This is not how we wish commencement had to occur, but we are grateful to be able to celebrate and honor the graduates of the Class of 2020.”
Laguna High strikes a supportive note
Laguna’s graduation plan for its 35 students will be similar to Analy’s but on a smaller a scale. In addition to a small number of officiants, there will be a group of teachers — masked and spaced six feet — holding signs on the sidewalk and cheering for the graduates as they get out of their family car and awarded their diploma.
