‘Weird’ but still special: Southeast Raleigh High graduation has masks and empty arena
High school graduations in front of huge crowds while standing beside your fellow graduates have become another casualty of the coronavirus pandemic.
Virtual ceremonies and in-person events with face masks and reduced crowd size limits are a part of how members of the Class of 2020 are ending their high school careers. Southeast Raleigh High School tried to make the best of it Wednesday as it rewarded their 316 graduates with a chance to walk across the stage to pick up their diploma in a nearly empty auditorium.
“It’s kind of weird,” said De’Anthony Avery, a senior. “It’s not what I expected. I always thought I’m going to graduate and there’s going to be hundreds of people watching, a lot of people.”
Earlier this month, the state Department of Public Instruction told North Carolina school districts that graduations must adhere to Gov. Roy Cooper’s executive orders. This includes limiting how many people can be at events and keeping people at least 6 feet apart to try to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
Social distancing required
In updated guidance sent last week, the state said graduation ceremonies are still subject to Phase Two rules limiting mass gatherings to no more than 10 people indoors and 25 people outdoors.
The Wake County school system canceled its traditional graduation ceremonies scheduled for large venues such as the Raleigh Convention Center and Reynolds Coliseum. Instead, each high school will hold a virtual graduation ceremony and an in-person event on campus.
Most Wake high schools are holding their events in June. Schools like Southeast Raleigh, whose school year ends in May, are holding events this month.
“I’m very disappointed for the students,” Southeast Raleigh Principal Eddie Harden said in an interview. “But in life we have to deal with adversity that we’re faced with.
“What we tried to communicate to our students is to continue to move on, do what you can do and deal with the adversity in a positive way, because one thing we’ve always talked about is being resilient.”
On Wednesday, Southeast Raleigh divided the graduates into two groups for the daylong event.
As part of the “senior parade,” families drove onto campus. They stayed in their vehicles until one of three spaces in a waiting area were available.
The school originally planned Wednesday to have seniors walk across an outdoor stage, but they moved to the auditorium due to rain.
Seniors, wearing their caps and gowns, walked across the stage to pick up their diploma from a table instead of having the principal hand it to them. “Pomp and Circumstance” blared across the auditorium as face-masked staff members cheered and the seniors’ guests took pictures.
Graduating with face masks on
People were asked to wear face masks.
“How am I supposed to smile with a mask on?” said Avery, the senior, when his sister asked him to pose for a picture.
The Barco family graduated their fourth son from Southeast Raleigh High on Wednesday. But Joshua Barco’s ceremony is very different from the ones his three brothers experienced.
“While the school really attempted to make it special, it can’t replace what the kids had before,” said Dorothy Barco, Joshua’s mother. “But we appreciated their efforts to keep the kids safe. (Principal Harden) made lemonade out of lemons.”
Seniors were limited to bringing up to three people with them. Dorothy Barco said none of the brothers attended because Joshua didn’t want to have to pick which one would come with his parents.
On a normal graduation day, Barco said they’d bring as many people as they could, with the rest watching online and preparing for a party. But on Wednesday they just went ahead with their normal activities after the ceremony.
Joshua Barco said he wished he could have had the traditional senior year activities such as prom and a regular graduation. But what the 17-year-old said he’s focusing on is what he accomplished at Southeast Raleigh and what he’ll do next attending Elizabeth City State University.
“We keep on pushing through,” Joshua said. “We keep on excelling.”
This story was originally published May 27, 2020 at 1:13 PM with the headline "‘Weird’ but still special: Southeast Raleigh High graduation has masks and empty arena."
