FARMINGTON — It was a new way of doing things Sunday when Mt. Blue High School awarded 164 diplomas during a drive-up graduation ceremony at the school’s parking lot.
Mount Blue High School graduate Angela Guppy decorated her mortarboard with a historic message. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal Buy this Photo
“When I think of resilience, I think of our class,” class president Olivia Schanck said while addressing her peers in a trailing line of vehicles.
Schanck said the Class of 2020 has already entered the “real world” as it finished the last two months of high school amid a global health crisis.
She said many students have become “essential workers,” and are now in major support roles at home.
Speeches and a musical performance were broadcast over an FM radio station and streamed over VIMEO, allowing families to tune in while waiting in their vehicles.
Many graduates referred to themselves as the “Class of Corona,” instead of the Class of 2020.
Beneath a white tent, class officers and school staff wearing blue-and-gold masks guided students out of their vehicles. Graduates were then led to a podium to receive their diplomas from Monique Poulin, the school’s principal.
“For the amount of time they had, they did a really good job,” graduate Kaitlin Higgins said from the passenger seat of her mother’s car. “And they showed the seniors that they really cared about them and their graduation, even with the stuff that went down with Corona.”
Class speaker Kahryn Cullenberg described how supportive and empathetic Mt. Blue’s teachers and staff members were during remote learning. She encouraged her classmates to continue the trend of small acts of kindness, like those she observed during the initial months of the pandemic.
“Small acts can add up when everyone jumps on board,” Cullenberg said.
Each student was allowed to remove his or her mask for a brief photo opportunity as he or she, holding a diploma, stood next to Poulin. They were then directed to a grassy area that had been marked for social distancing, where the students cheered for the rest of their group’s graduates.
After receiving feedback from the Class of 2020, Mt. Blue decided to organize the procession based on students’ desired groups of friends, rather than in alphabetized order.
Vehicles were registered ahead of time-based on these groups, and families were given a time slot to enter the parking lot. Some students had several decorated vehicles packed with tailgating supporters.
Science teachers Jeff and Maria Howatt directed traffic at the school’s entrance while holding clipboards with spreadsheets of the vehicle procession order.
“There was 20 minutes of chaos, and then perfect,” Jeff Howatt said of the first flow of vehicles.
The students-and-faculty-planned ceremony proceeded at a calm, steady pace that required four hours to award diplomas to all of the graduates.
“When kids are part of the solution, there’s always a win,” Maria Howatt said.
Of the 164 graduates, 97 plan to attend college or a technical program, 29 expect to enter the workforce and four plan to join the military.
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