Drive-throughs, parades and livestreams — how SLO County schools are celebrating grads
The coronavirus outbreak means most San Luis Obispo County graduates won’t get traditional ceremonies — but high schools are still finding creative ways to celebrate their seniors.
Starting this week, schools will hold drive-through ceremonies, parades and other events to salute the class of 2020. Some schools are opting to have end-of-the-year celebrations while still holding out hope for a full graduation later in the summer.
Here’s how high schools around the county are celebrating their seniors’ accomplishments while still adhering to COVID-19 social distancing requirements.
Drive-through graduation celebrations
Lucia Mar Unified School District is holding drive-through graduation ceremonies for all four of its high schools — Arroyo Grande, Nipomo, Central Coast New Tech and Lopez Continuation. Seniors and their families will decorate their cars and drive through a designated area to the stage.
Graduates will then exit their cars and have their photos taken while receiving their diplomas. The ceremonies will also be broadcast online, so other friends and family can watch.
“Finding a way to celebrate ALL of our seniors was incredibly important to us,” said Amy Jacobs, a Lucia Mar spokeswoman. “We reached out to our parents and students to get their input. We sent out surveys to seniors, then also received input from parents and staff. We also did lots of research to see what other districts were doing. If we had delayed the ceremony, we were concerned that some students would already be off to the military, college, or other plans. We also could not be guaranteed that large gatherings would be allowed.”
San Luis Coastal Unified School District plans to have similar drive-through ceremonies at San Luis Obispo and Morro Bay high schools.
Paso Robles Joint Unified School District leaders are still planning a summer graduation ceremony. But the district will also celebrate seniors with a drive-through celebration when seniors go to pick up caps and gowns, awards and honor cords.
Seniors and their families can decorate their cars and wave to their favorite teachers and staff during the pickup, according to a district flyer.
Graduation parades — and reverse parades
Some schools are planning to hold parades that will allow families and friends around town to celebrate graduates.
Atascadero Unified School District will hold a district-wide ceremony that will include a parade through the city.
Graduates and their families can decorate their cars and drive along a parade route on Traffic Way before receiving their diplomas in front of City Hall.
The ceremony will be broadcast on KJUG Radio and livestreamed on social media.
“While current state and county restrictions make our traditional ceremonies impossible, we believe we have created a positive, meaningful experience that will appropriately and safely honor our graduates and allow families and friends to celebrate,” district officials wrote in a letter to graduates.
Templeton Unified School District leaders are still hoping to have a traditional graduation ceremony later in the summer, but they have also decided to hold a “reverse parade” to celebrate seniors.
Graduates will line up along Main Street while the community drives by and cheers for them.
“Initially, we had discussed having a parade through town, following the route that our homecoming parade follows,” said Josh Aston, Templeton High School principal. “The initial plan was to have all of the graduates get in their cars and drive the route. That would mean that there would be over 180 cars in the parade. One of our very insightful teachers suggested having the students line up at an appropriate social distance along a parade route and then family and friends could drive along the route and pay tribute to the graduates.”
This story was originally published May 29, 2020 at 5:15 AM with the headline "Drive-throughs, parades and livestreams — how SLO County schools are celebrating grads."
