Seniors Graduate After Year-Long Battle with COVID-19 Restrictions

photo by leyla dumke

On Sunday, June 6 the 149th graduation ceremony was held for the class of 2021. The class consisted of 249 students, 120 of those graduating with honors.

Grace Humes, 9, attended the ceremony for her senior brother, Max.

“I was originally not able to go due to COVID restricting the number of tickets each senior got, but the restrictions were just recently lifted, as well as a mask mandate for the event. The ceremony gave me hope that things are slowly returning to normal,” Grace said.

Grace also partook in the rehearsal as she is a member of Student Senate. During the rehearsal she played the role of an usher, handing out programs to the audience.

Though some restrictions have been lifted, many remain. This year, the traditional all night party was not held, being replaced by a senior “celebash.”

Mrs. Allison Koch, the guidance office secretary, is a member of the parent organization that put the celebash together.

“Instead of the usual all night party in Chicago, we tried something more local and affordable. We were donated a personal hangar at the Southwest Michigan Regional Airport to hold a dinner-dance. We also started a GoFundMe to make the party free, rather than have an entrance fee like previous years,” Mrs. Koch said.