Churchill Community High School Grade 12 graduates will be receiving their diplomas next week in their own personal ceremonies.
The school has decided to have three administrative staff, a photographer, as well as a portable stage go to each graduate to present their degree and presents from the school and the Lac La Ronge Indian Band.
Graduates were sent caps and gowns to wear for the ceremony along with a lawn sign reading “a 2020 graduate lives here” this past week.
The school’s principal Scott Tomporowski says they thought this was the best way for students to have at least some of their family there to celebrate.
“We’re trying to mitigate the risk of COVID-19, so this was a plan we had thought of where we could do that, plus it gave the grads the chance to have at least 25 of their family members to see grad.”
Tomporowski said the school saw this as a good option for grads, as the school was told they could have a virtual grad or postpone it. So instead, the school got creative.
If all Grade 12 students finish their necessary courses, the school will see its largest graduation class of 61 students.
The small ceremonies will take place from Monday to Friday next week at an outdoor place of the graduates choosing — whether that be at their house, a relative’s house or a park.
Senator Myles Venne School chose a different way to celebrate their graduates. The 22 graduates will be part of a ceremony in the school’s gym.
Simon Bird, the director of education for the Lac La Ronge Indian Band, which governs the school, says the ceremony will have each graduate and their three allowed guests to enter the gym at different times.
When the graduates and guests aren’t in the gym, they’ll be spaced out in different rooms around the school.
Bird said he knows it won’t the same big ceremony as the school usually holds, but is glad they got to do something.
“I think it’s a compromise that we can all get behind,” Bird said. “It doesn’t take away the fact that this is a special achievement and it acknowledges it.”
The ceremony for Senator Myles Venne School graduates will take place June 26.
(PHOTO: Churchill Community High School. File photo.)