Graduation. Prom. The last day of high school. These are all things that COVID-19 has taken from the Class of 2020- at least in the traditional sense.  However, Shelby County Schools has created a plan to show seniors that they have not been forgotten. The plan details a series of activities starting in May with a graduation website, followed by a drive-through celebration in June and a projected July graduation. 

“It’s sad that our last year was messed up, but I think that the school is doing the best it can with what it has and I’m thankful for that,” Allie Williams (12) said. “I don’t know much about the website but I hope it shows how much we enjoyed our senior year and how much we miss it.” The website will honor every SCS senior by displaying rosters of all the district’s schools. It will also contain video messages and updated information on the ever-changing climate regarding  graduation plans.  

“The big thing is going to be June, the drive-through celebration,” Principal Carrye Holland said.  “We are going to pick a day and we’re just going to celebrate, have banners, have the drum line play, have the cheerleaders, decorate the seniors’ cars, and they are going to drive through the campus.” 

This will give seniors one last trip through their campus of four years. But social distancing will be respected as the students will journey through the safety of their cars. 

SCS’s most ambitious aim will take place at the end of the summer in the form of a traditional graduation.

“SCS is trying to figure out where we could house graduation and how many people would be able to come. They are trying to figure out a lot of those logistics,” Holland said. “The big push right now is they are  working on reimbursements and getting money back to people and then seeing how much money there still is to actually have those events once they’ve refunded people’s money.”

However, Principal Holland cautions her seniors to remember that the pandemic is changing plans on a weekly basis and that there is always a chance that these activities will be put on hold. 

“We really want to make sure that we let the Class of 2020 know that just because all these things are happening they are still important and this is still a big milestone for them. So hopefully we can do that justice and they can feel good about that symbolic rite of passage piece happening so they can move to that next step,” Holland said.