MIAMI (WSVN) - A major milestone moment for thousands of South Florida high school seniors will not be happening the traditional way this year, but school district officials are taking additional steps to ensure it’s just as special for them.
Going to graduation at a large venue in a cap and gown to celebrate four years of hard work with family and friends is something South Florida high schoolers wanted to experience, but the COVID-19 pandemic is preventing these ceremonies from taking place.
On Tuesday, seniors graduating from Coral Gables Senior High said it’s a frustrating turn of events, to say the least.
“I was really looking forward to that, and missing out on it with my friends, especially, was really a big shame,” said Rodney Michel.
“That’s what we have been waiting for our whole lives, and we don’t want it to be memorable by just the fact that we missed out on graduation,” said Ketty Dones.
When it came time for Miami-Dade County Public Schools to organize virtual commencements, students made a special request to Superintendent Alberto Carvalho.
The district agreed.
“This year, in fact, we’ll have two ceremonies,” said Carvalho.
The first one will be a streaming graduation ceremony held this summer right after the school year.
Carvalho said the students will watch from home, but the virtual event’s format will be nearly identical to the way traditional ceremonies unfold, down to students’ names being called.
“Every single student shall be recognized in a very personalized way, with cap and gown and all the pomp and circumstance,” said Carvalho. “There will be music. There will be long speeches.”
District officials said the second ceremony will be in person once stay-at-home orders are relaxed, and they’ll look just like what every high school graduate has received in the past.
Carvalho said these second ceremonies could be later in the summer or even in the fall or winter, depending on when restrictions are relaxed.
“They’ve worked hard. They yearn for it. They deserve it,” he said.
Graduating students said they will gladly come back, even months later, to have ceremony so they can see their classmates face to face.
“I think that whenever it is safe for us to have a graduation, we would like to have a graduation,” said Dones.
“It’s a good compromise having both a virtual and a physical one,” said Michel.
Broward County Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie said he will announce how the Broward schools district will handle graduation later this week.
Copyright 2024 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.