Despite it just being the beginning of 2021, graduation is coming sooner than many of us think. The question of whether or not life will return to normal has been prevalent in the minds of many, especially regarding the graduation ceremony.

With COVID-19 putting a hold on last year’s seniors’ graduation plans, last year CCCHS experienced its first-ever graduation parade for the class of 2020.

We’ve all seen or heard of the traditional graduation ceremony, but the parade brought something new to the table.

Organized by Nicole Carney and other members of the administration, the parade was designed to give each senior their moment in the spotlight while maintaining social distance protocols amongst the pandemic. 

When interviewed, Carney gave us an insight into the parade’s unseen details, “It was actually much more difficult [to plan] because we were starting from scratch. Every detail had to be considered and we kept running into obstacles that we had not thought of the first time.”

Along with the planning difficulties, they also received quite a bit of backlash for their idea, “It was pretty rough on social media…However, for all of the negative publicity we received for doing the parade, we received as many or more compliments and letters of gratitude from parents and students after the parade.” 

The parade started at Coffee County Raider Academy. Each senior got in line with their vehicles, and some family members, and drove their way to Coffee County High School in parade fashion.

When their turn came up, the star senior would hop out, walk the red carpet laid out for them, accept their diploma, and have their car parked in the student lot. 

When prompted with the question of if this parade was going to happen again, Carney stated, “I can’t say for certain if the school would do this again in place of graduation or even as an addition to the traditional ceremony. However, I do think everyone that attended or was involved enjoyed the parade.”

As with any school event, there were bound to be mixed emotions on not having a traditional ceremony. Many seniors expressed disappointment with how their graduation happened, but others were thrilled with the idea. 

The most talked-about perk of the parade was each senior’s ability to decorate their vehicle for the occasion as well.

2020 graduate Sarah Turner expressed her appreciation for the ceremony in an interview, “I absolutely preferred the parade. It was something that could be made unique to every single graduate and still include everyone, and it beats sitting in a hot field for hours listening to speeches and names being called.” 

Despite there being mixed emotions on the parade, the faculty at CCCHS made many efforts to send off their seniors in the best way possible. Even while facing many obstacles along the way, they overcame all of them to close the year in a special way for the seniors. 

If this type of ceremony is to happen again for the class of 2021, the seniors should trust the process and know that the administration is putting their best effort into making it as ‘normal’ as possible, even in unprecedented times.