Plans afoot for virtual La Conner High commencement exercises

 

HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS HELD IN HIGH ESTEEM – “Brave banners,” each portraying a graduating La Conner High School senior are on Morris Street light poles. The seniors will not walk across the stage in front of a full gym of family of friends in June, but their photos are held high for all to see. – Photo by Ken Stern

La Conner High seniors and their parents have fretted for weeks that there may be no graduation ceremonies this year due to the coronavirus.

Now there may be two.

La Conner Superintendent Dr. Whitney Meissner raised that possibility during a briskly paced one-hour video-conferenced school board meeting last week and later in remarks to the Weekly News.

She said plans are in the works to broadcast a “virtual” graduation in June and hold a scaled-down in-person commencement later in the summer should conditions permit.

For the virtual graduation, Meissner said speeches will be recorded one day and then senior class members will be brought in on a separate day to walk the stage and receive diplomas.

“We hope to have all filming done by June 5,” Meissner said, “and we expect to broadcast the virtual ceremony on June 11, which is their original graduation day.”

The class has opted to continue the tradition of having the graduation stage inside Landy James Gym, said Meissner. Some thought had been given to building sets and conducting the filming at the Tim Bruce Performing Arts Center on campus.

As for a summertime in-person graduation event, plans are less definite at present.

“The seniors,” Meissner told the board, “are also holding out hope for an in-person graduation. Because it is a small class, under 50 students, there’s hope we can do something in the summer.”

That, of course, will depend on the status at that time of statewide COVID-19 restrictions.

“We may try to hold something in person if groups can gather,” Meissner told the Weekly News. “If we are able to have up to 50 (people), at least the kids could get together.”

La Conner Middle and High School Counselor Lori Buher said planning a virtual graduation ceremony – something never done before here – has required a concerted group effort.

“We have been having almost daily Zoom meetings and weekly meetings with senior parents,” Buher said, “as well as bringing seniors into the discussion in the hopes of being able to produce a special experience.”

La Conner photographer Sarah Walls, a frequent Weekly News contributor, has offered to shoot still photos for the virtual graduation.

“I wanted to contribute in some way and it’s something I can do,” Walls said.

Leading up to graduation, special projects honoring the Class of 2020 have been launched to help off-set disappointment related to the loss of traditional end-of-year events such as prom, spring sports, and the senior trip.

Assistant Principal Kathy Herrera unveiled a “Celebrate the Seniors” campaign last week. Banners sporting the images of La Conner High seniors were placed along Morris Street shortly thereafter.

“The banners weren’t part of my project,” Herrera said, “but part of a project that (district finance director) Bonnie Haley was working on.”

Meissner said all the moving parts are fueled by a shared desire to recognize the senior class and its accomplishments.

“The banners are a project we’ve had in the works for about two months,” said Meissner, “but it certainly falls under the ‘Celebrate the Seniors’ umbrella. It seems like it’s made everyone feel good.”

 

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