What Modesto, other school districts have in works for virtual graduation ceremonies
Some kids will walk, others will TikTok. They’ll hear their names called, wear their caps and gowns and receive words of encouragement from dignitaries and student speakers.
In similar but various ways, school districts in Stanislaus County are working to ensure the Class of 2020 has virtual graduation ceremonies that approximate in-person commencements as much as possible. Some districts are doing the same for eighth-graders as they move on to high school.
Districts have said virtual commencements are not meant to replace in-person events, which they still hope to have sometime during the summer if social-distancing restrictions are lifted.
Schools in the Ceres and Turlock districts are scheduling seniors to turn out in small groups to be filmed walking a stage in caps and gowns to receive their diplomas. Turlock High told families that still photos also will be taken and sent to students’ TUSD email addresses.
Ceres Unified spokeswoman Beth Parker Jimenez said Tuesday, “We’re working to make it as close to the real thing as we can get.” There will be student speakers, like class valedictorians and salutatorians, as well as remarks from dignitaries such as the district superintendent, the school board president and principals.
All will be filmed at the same stages the students walk, to create the illusion everything happened at once. All that will be missing is a crowd and a live band playing “Pomp and Circumstance.”
“I didn’t think I’d get to see my daughter walk the stage,” said Jimenez, mom of a Ceres High senior. “I’m incredibly appreciative from a parent standpoint that the district is going the extra mile to make the occasion as memorable as it can.”
TikTok style videos integrated in MCS events
Modesto City Schools isn’t comfortable having students show up even in small numbers to simulate a commencement, spokeswoman Krista Noonan said Tuesday. Students’ emotions are running high, she said, and if putting them in a situation where they’re with friends they’ve not been with in weeks, “there’s no guarantee they won’t run up and hug each other,” undoing the social-distancing efforts being made.
So to provide a fun, creative alternative, each graduating student has been invited to submit three videos of eight to 10 seconds each, a la the clips kids love to view on the popular social-media platform TikTok. This will allow teens to “make their personal mark on the ceremony,” families have been told.
The kids can have fun with the videos, said Heather Contreras, a senior director of school leadership with the district. The three clips essentially should show students leaving their bedrooms or homes to head to graduation, moving their mortarboard tassels from one side to the other, and joining in the post-graduation celebration as the recessional plays.
The district is working with a vendor who will splice together the student videos in the same order students would walk in a traditional ceremony. Each virtual graduation ceremony also will be edited to include the formal calling of each student’s name, as well as the traditional speeches by students and others.
The district informed families that it is keeping to the same schedule of graduation dates and times that was announced at the start of the school year. This is being done, Conteras said, because some families almost certainly have had invitations printed and mailed to loved ones across the country. Those friends and family members will know, then, when to “tune in” to social media to watch the virtual ceremonies.
The video of each school’s ceremony will be given to seniors’ families, most likely as a flash drive, and will be available as a downloadable file.
The graduation dates and times are:
- Beyer High – Friday, May 29, at 6:30 p.m.
- Davis High – Friday, May 29, at 7 p.m.
- Downey High – Thursday, May 28, at 7:30 p.m.
- Elliott Alternative – Wednesday, May 27, at 6 p.m.
- Enochs High – Thursday, May 28, at 6:30 p.m.
- Gregori High – Thursday, May 28, at 7 p.m.
- Johansen High – Thursday, May 28, at 7 p.m.
- Modesto High – Thursday, May 28, at 6:30 p.m.
Hanshaw Middle School – Wednesday, May 27, at 6 p.m.
La Loma Junior High – Friday, May 29, at 5 p.m.
Mark Twain Junior High – Friday, May 29, at 5:30 p.m.
Roosevelt Junior High – Friday, May 29, at 5 p.m.
‘Friday Night Lights’
The virtual graduations are but one way schools and communities are celebrating seniors at a time the coronavirus pandemic has taken so much away from them.
Districts and teachers unions have bought families yard signs with messages including “Class of 2020,” “We love our seniors” and “Proud family of a senior.” Modesto City Schools placed an order for signs it expected to be able to distribute next week, only to learn Tuesday the vendor wouldn’t be able to deliver until the end of May or early June. “As a result, we canceled the order and we are looking for other vendors who can complete the order sooner,” Noonan said.
Some schools are participating in a nationwide celebration dubbed Friday Night Lights. In it, stadium lights are turned on Friday nights at 8:20 (that’s 2020 military time) for 20 minutes and 20 seconds. Scoreboards show a score of 20:20, with 20 minutes and 20 seconds left on the clock.
Friday Night Lights is one way Patterson Unified School District is taking part in a communitywide, multifaceted initiative called 2020 Vision to salute students. It’s lighting up Patterson Community Stadium, live-streaming it on Facebook and playing the Patterson High Tigers’ anthem, “Eye of the Tiger,” toward the close of each event.
Another eye-catching piece of 2020 Vision is the posting of seniors’ portraits around the perimeter of Patterson’s high school. A media release from the district points out that the portraits are socially distanced — 6 feet apart from one another.
Special 2020 Vision banners also are being placed around the city, and a teacher-initiated gofundme account raised money to provide all seniors’ families with yard signs, the district said.
Parents and community members also are showing love for students on the “Adopt a Patterson High Senior 2020” page on Facebook. It allows parents to post photos of their seniors and approve other group members to “adopt” them by offering words of support and perhaps small gifts.
Similar pages are popping up around the country, and locally include at least “Turlock High School Area Adopt a SENIOR 2020” and “Stanislaus County Adopt a Senior 2020.”
