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Plans have changed for the W.S. Neal High School graduation ceremony. “It is coming and it is going to be outstanding,” said WSN Principal Matthew Hodge via a Facebook post. Sharing the update with the school on the social media outlet, Hodge shared that the school will host a graduation ceremony on the football field. “Huge bonus that we are going to celebrate our seniors in a regular graduation setting as it should be, but there are some rules and some requirements that we are going to have to go over,” said Hodge.
The original plan as reported last week, was to bring seniors in two at a time with 4 other individuals accompanying each senior. The socially distant ceremony was expected to last from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m. Now the graduation will take place on May 22, on the football field. In the larger setting, students are still only permitted 4 guests. “Preferably folks, we would prefer 1 vehicle show up the night of graduation. That is including the graduate in that car. When these cars pull up, every person in that car has to have a ticket,” said Hodge.
Closely following the social distancing orders, Hodge emphasized the need to abide by all safety precautions. “This isn’t our rules, these are the things we have come up with to abide by the safety guidelines so we are able to give the graduation ceremony to these kids the way they needed to have it. No car enters the parking lot without a ticket per person. These tickets are non transferable,” said Hodge.
Seniors will participate in a practice on Thurs. morning at 9:30 a.m. Practice is mandatory in order to graduate. “I need every senior here. If the senior doesn’t show to practice, the senior is not going to walk. I hate to say it that way but we have to have everybody on the same page for safety reasons,” commented Hodge.
Looking forward to the event, Hodge said, “I cannot wait to pull this off. Let’s just be happy we are able to do it.”
According to Hodge, official guidelines for the night will be sent home in a packet for all guests and posted to Facebook.