For the first time since 2019, traditional high-school graduation ceremonies will be kicking-off across Rocky View County at the end of May.
While the previous two Grade 12 classes were recognized in a variety of modified ways due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s graduates will be celebrated at large in-person events, complete with dinner and dancing.
“We’ve really tried to stay flexible and adaptable based on our community,” said Derek Keenan, the principal at W.G. Murdoch School in Crossfield.
In 2020, the school sent out a “Grad in the Box” to each student and hosted individual ceremonies, Keenan said. The graduating student was able to record themselves walking across a stage and moving their tassel over to mark their graduate status, which the W.G. Murdoch staff then put together a video that was released to the school community, he said.
Due to the lighter restrictions in place during the spring of 2021, the Crossfield-based school was able to host a socially distanced graduation, but only the Grade 12 class was able to attend. The school recorded the ceremony and posted it online so the parents of the graduates were able to watch afterwards, added Keenan.
To boost the spirits of the last two graduating classes, who each had to experience alternative graduations, Keenan said the community posted lawn signs of the graduates, and gifts from various groups across Crossfield were presented to the Grade 12 students.
“The community has really rallied behind the students the last couple of years but this year, in particular, it just feels like we’re getting back to what our school is about,” Keenan added.
This year, the Class of 2022 can celebrate together at a traditional convocation with no COVID-19 restrictions in place. The graduation ceremony is taking place on May 27 at the W.G. Murdoch School gym. The graduation ceremony will be live-streamed, and a parent-led group is hosting a banquet for the graduates the following day, according to Keenan.
“We’re really trying to make it inclusive of everybody who wants to be involved and get back to that celebration of our grads,” Keenan said.
On the west side of the county, even though the staff and students at Springbank Community High School are excited to return to traditional graduation, principal Tara Ong-Padilla said the school has hosted excellent drive-thru style graduation ceremonies these past two years.
“We did the best that we could given the circumstances,” Ong-Padilla added.
The drive-thru grad ceremony, which featured a red carpet for the Grade 12s, allowed the graduates to receive their diploma and have their pictures taken, while their families watched from a decorated vehicle to celebrate their success, Ong-Padilla said.
Last year, Springbank’s public high school hosted a “grad week where the kids got to wear their gowns and formal wear to school,” Ong-Padilla added.
The week was well-received, so the principal is planning to do the same this year, inviting the Grade 12 students to wear Springbank Phoenix spirit wear, gowns and formal wear to school.
Springbank will also host a “til next time” event where the school leadership is passed from the graduating Grade 12s to the Grade 11s, Ong-Padilla said. On Friday, June 3, the Grade 12s are off for a camp day away from school.
The Springbank Community High School graduation will be hosted at the Winsport Arena in Calgary on June 4 at 10 a.m. There will be no COVID-19 restrictions at the event.
“These kids have been through a lot and we’re excited to celebrate them,” Ong-Padilla said. “We’re just excited to get to what the new normal is and celebrate these kids that deserve being celebrated.”
Keenan agreed with Ong-Padilla, adding he is “really excited to be to speak to [the graduates] in person this year, to see their faces light up and to have the people that brought them all the way…be able to celebrate with them in person.”
Chestermere High School will host its graduation ceremony in Wilson gym, inside of the high school, on May 28, starting at 10 a.m. Beiseker Community School will also host a graduation ceremony inside their school gym on June 3 at 7 p.m., according to a press release from Rocky View Schools (RVS) on May 16.
In that press release, RVS Superintendent Greg Luterbach said “completing high school is a major achievement, and we’re thrilled to once again mark that milestone together with the Class of 2022.”
“We are proud of all our Grade 12 students and we wish them continued success as they move on from RVS and into the next steps of their journey,” Luterbach said. “Congratulations to each and every RVS graduate!”
