LEDGER – Mitchell County’s high school graduation ceremonies will look a little different this year due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Mitchell County Schools Superintendent Chad Calhoun said Mitchell High School seniors would have a plan for their graduation by the end of the week.
Mitchell seniors were provided with an initial survey to determine whether they preferred a virtual ceremony or a drive-up ceremony about two weeks ago. After a majority voted for the drive-up option, students were sent a second survey Friday, May 15, with two more detailed options that are allowed under Gov. Roy Cooper’s restrictions.
The two options included a drive-thru graduation on the high school campus and a drive-in graduation at Lavonia Crest in Glen Ayre.
The drive-thru graduation option would have students sign up for a time to be on campus to drive around the circle to pick up their diploma. Students and their families would arrive in a maximum of two vehicles and professional photos, and a video would be made of each student receiving his or her diploma. This option would be spread out over three days, June 5-7, because it would take a significant amount of time for each senior to go through this process.
The drive-in graduation option, which would be Friday, June 6, would include a parade and a more familiar graduation ceremony.
For the parade, there would be a designated location in Spruce Pine, where one car, in which the senior is the driver or passenger, will line up. The parade would go through Spruce Pine and Bakersville to Lavonia Crest. The senior’s second car, with family and friends, would line up at Mitchell High School, and once the seniors’ first car passed the school, they would fall in line and follow onto Lavonia Crest.
Seniors would be put into groups of approximately 34 students to graduate, with cars grouped in this same order. The seniors in the first cars will be in the front lines of parking, and the second cars will be in the rows behind.
Each group of seniors would be called to the stage and would fall in line, maintaining six feet for social distancing, and cross the stage as their name is called. Following this, seniors would line up in front of the audience, and each graduate would turn his or her tassel and return to his or her car.
The same would be done for the next three groups of seniors, with all spectators remaining until the end of the ceremony and the pronouncement of the graduates.
Because its graduation comes earlier than Mitchell’s, Mayland Early College High School, or MECHS, already has a definitive plan.
MECHS is having a drive-in graduation at 6 p.m. on Thursday, May 21, in the parking lot in front of the high school building. Each student will remain in their car until their name is called when they will be able to walk onto the stage to be recognized.
The ceremony will be broadcast over the radio so parents and family can listen in their vehicles. The graduation will limit the number of vehicles to one per student to ensure the parking lot is not overcrowded. In the event of rain, the MECHS graduation will be 11 a.m. Saturday, May 23.