Drive-in theater, parades and more: Centre County celebrates the class of 2020 amid pandemic
Lydia Collison put photos in a school time capsule last fall, thinking they would best represent the class of 2020. But she had no idea its story would change the following spring.
When Collison imagined graduation, it didn’t involve family cheers from the car or congratulatory honks from peers. She pictured sitting with classmates, walking across stage to receive her diploma and hugging her friends and teachers goodbye after the ceremony.
But the Penns Valley Area School District graduate is one of many who had to change their picture of senior year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In an alternative ceremony Friday, Collison received her diploma in a drive-thru procession while a limited number of friends and family looked on to watch her walk across the outdoor stage in her cap and gown.
The socially distanced commencement was one of the ways Centre County school districts celebrated and honored the class of 2020 while adhering to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state Department of Health guidelines. In planning the events that were unlike any other in the schools’ histories, district officials and families got creative — heavily decorated vehicles for Penns Valley’s drive-thru ceremony, a parade leading up to a virtual ceremony for State College Area School District seniors, a drive-in movie theater component at Philipsburg-Osceola Area School District, matching face masks for Bald Eagle Area graduates, pandemic-inspired senior T-shirts for Centre County Christian Academy and zip lining for Grace Prep grads.
Some schools, including State High and St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy, hope to have in-person ceremonies this summer.
Though slightly disappointed she didn’t get the graduation she had in mind, Collison said Penns Valley made sure students had “the best of both worlds,” as they balanced safety and honored staple school traditions like the hat toss on the football field.
“I think they have done a tremendous job in trying to make us feel as special as possible by giving us the closest to a normal graduation,” she said. “We’ll still be able to have our name called and walk across that stage. I’m thankful for that. It’s the best that we can do with what we have.”
Collison will be attending Messiah College where she’ll study to become a physical therapist. With underclassmen expected to return to school in the fall — though normalcy may not return for some time — Collison’s advice for them is to not take anything, “not even the little things,” for granted.
“Our senior class would have given anything to just have one more day in school,” she said.
Bellefonte Area School District graduates Austin Craig, Nolan Putnam and Owen Christopher participated in a drive-thru commencement Friday and celebrated afterward by taking pictures with their families in Talleyrand Park.
When school first closed in March, they thought they’d return to school for in-person classes after a few weeks, but those weeks turned into months. While they were grateful the district gave them a ceremony, they were disappointed it was unconventional.
“I never hated school, but I miss interacting with my teachers,” Craig said. “I’ll miss them and going to classes the most.”
BEA’s Saturday graduation ceremony looked the closest to “normal” of any Centre County school. Held at Alumni Stadium, chairs for spectators were placed six feet apart to watch graduates walk across the stage in 2020 graduation garb — cap, gown and mask.
For students at SCASD, Saturday’s virtual ceremony topped off a series of events held to recognize its more than 500 graduating seniors. A senior send-off parade was held late last month, and graduates are able to schedule diploma and senior gift pick up and graduation pictures in the coming days.
During his commencement speech, streamed live on Facebook, State College Superintendent Bob O’Donnell spoke about his disappointment in not getting to see the seniors one last time before they graduate or take photos, or getting to be part of the “teacher tunnel” to cheer for and hug the students as they exit the Bryce Jordan Center, and not getting the chance to shake the hands of the students entering the military before they depart.
“This isn’t the last time things aren’t going to work out as planned,” he said. “Here’s the deal. We have a choice as to how we view and respond to any negative situation. You can be in the present, adjust, then find a positive direction, or you could do nothing. It’s your call. But I think you as a class already understand the meaning of a fork in the road. Because what we’ve seen of you goes well beyond the last couple of months.
“By no means does this pandemic define the class of 2020.”
Every year during P-O’s commencement, Superintendent Gregg Paladina typically tells stories of perseverance, but this year, he changed one aspect of his speech.
“Friends and graduates, the class of 2020 needs no lesson in perseverance. You’ve battled plenty already,” he said during a recorded ceremony that was shown Tuesday at the Super 322 Drive-In. “While your senior year is supposed to be a rite of passage — one final time with your friends before college, trade school, work, the military or whatever your life has in store for you — this year has been anything but that.”
Although students may be disappointed by missed senior year events — prom, the high school musical — Paladina reminded the students, many of whom were born in 2001, that they are no strangers to adversity.
“The virus has taken much from you but do not let it define the class. You will persevere through this and do well in the future,” he said. “Your life has been book ended by two rough events — 9/11 and the coronavirus — the two worst events that many of us have lived through. However hard it was, you did it. You graduated.”
