Front Porch Graduation Class of 2020 – Celebrating During the Pandemic

This school year has definitely been an interesting one! My Tribe has not been in school since March 12th, and even so my oldest is now a High School Graduate! I have spent years saying that if I could figure out a way to work fulltime and homeschool my kids again I would do it today. This is not even close to what I had in mind!

The Class of 2020 was Graduating, and it was not going to be traditional in any way! There was a lot of planning on the part of the school, and parents involved – with many changes along the way. We were all set to do individual ceremonies in the school auditorium, and cross the stage, with each family scheduled for 15 minutes, with up to 6 guests. The week before our scheduled ceremony Cuomo approved a modified school ceremony with restrictions. It had to be outside, and limited the number of people in attendance to 150, which meant that each family gets 3 guests.

The number of limited guests was not so much of an issue for my son as it was for me, but being in a large group and being close to others, even with a mask on is what concerned my son the most. As much as I talked to him about the small ceremony, he was determined to not attend.

The school sent out a poll to vote on a few different options for graduation that included the original individual ceremony, a ceremony scheduled at the end of the school year, or one postponed until it was safer to gather in larger groups. I would have liked to wait until it was safer, when My Tribe could all attend to watch him cross the stage, and cheer him on.

There was no chance I was going to get him standing at school with his class, and for him it was either the scheduled individual ceremony at school, or nothing. He was not going, and his main reason, described in one word was simply “Owain”. He was not going to talk about it, or consider it.

My sweet, gracious son was not going to put his brother at risk for anything. I love his caring soul, and his devotion to family. We are close, take care of each other, and support each other. His mind was made up, and there was no changing it.

When it came time to vote in the poll, I asked him what he wanted, and he wanted the individual ceremony, that was it. So that is what I turned in for our family. I did want to add my vote to the mix, and emailed the school to add that our family vote was my son’s choice, but that I would love to see him cross the stage much later in the year, or after a vaccine. I don’t think many others feel that way, but I wanted to let them know that we would be interested more if it was not in the middle of the pandemic.

The response from the school was amazing, and unexpected! They offered to come to our house the day before the group ceremony, and give my son a front porch ceremony to keep our family safe. As much as I would have loved to see him walk across the stage with his class, in front of the community, he was over the top happy to have his individual ceremony. In the end, it was his day, and his decision to make. He is a shy kid, and between worrying about people looking at him, and worrying about his brother, he would have never enjoyed being in a group. His Graduation is something he will look back on and remember how great his day was.

I felt bad that he wouldn’t have a school to cheer him on, so I invited our closest friends in town, and his youth group leader from church who brought along a few kids from group. My Tribe, and my mom were all there to celebrate, and the principle brought her daughter along (I believe – she was wearing a mask!) It was a small group, spread out across our front yard, using the breeze to blow some bubbles.

We decorated the front porch, and made a stage for him. He had a quick conversation with the principle before the ceremony about how it would go, and it was done and over with in less than 15 minutes. When all was said and done, he described the quick, and socially distanced Front Porch Graduation Ceremony as “Perfect, and everything I wanted!” As a mother wanting to see her son cross the stage, I have some disappointment, mostly because the Pandemic has been hard on the kids, and they are missing out on so much right now. I am disappointed for My Tribe, and the way their lives suddenly changed without warning, but I am overjoyed that my son had the Graduation Ceremony that HE wanted, and was not worried so much about what others thought he should do. It was his day to shine, and that is all that matters. I am Proud that he stands up for himself, his values, and what he believes is the right thing to do.

I also have a video of the ceremony that needs to be edited before uploading to YouTube – Keep an eye out for that, it’s coming next!