By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Commencement this year may lack the customary pomp and circumstance – but nothing about the end of this senior year at Bowling Green High School has been normal.
Further plans for the virtual commencement, followed by a graduate parade through Bowling Green were sent out to parents today by Superintendent Francis Scruci.
“First, I would like to share that we certainly understand how you as senior parents feel as we all share in the disappointment of how much our senior class has lost due to the coronavirus outbreak,” Scruci wrote. “I cannot tell you how disappointed we all are that the Class of 2020 will not walk across a stage in front of families and friends and receive their diploma as they would in a typical year. As we all know, this has been everything but a typical year.”
But school officials are committed to making commencement memorial.
“We believe we will make this as special of a ceremony as we can while keeping everyone safe in a year that we will remember for all the wrong reasons. Unfortunately, sometimes in life, things are out of our control,” Scruci said.
Earlier this week, Gov. Mike DeWine addressed the issue of high school commencements. He suggested schools hold virtual commencements and drive-thru diploma presentations.
“We were thrilled to hear his top two most recommended options for schools are exactly what we had been planning,” Scruci said.
The virtual commencement will be broadcast on May 31, beginning at 11 a.m. Details on how to view the broadcast will be forthcoming later this month. The virtual commencement will include addresses from Principal Jeff Dever, Board President Ginny Stewart, Superintendent Francis Scruci, and three or four senior students selected to present their video addresses.
Each member of the graduating class will be announced by Dr. Jo Beth Gonzalez and will have their senior picture displayed.
Following the virtual commencement, students and their parents are invited to take part in a graduation parade that will begin at 2 p.m. The parade, which will start at Bowling Green High School, will have a police escort and will include fire trucks.
Community members are being asked to line the parade route – practicing social distancing – and celebrate the Class of 2020.
The route will begin in the high school parking lot, turn right on Poe Road, left on Haskins Road, left on Wooster Street, left on Main Street, left back onto Poe Road, right on Fairview Avenue; then left into the middle school driveway.
Each car will stop under the awning of the Performing Arts Center, where Gonzalez will call each graduate’s name. The car driving the graduate will then drive to the Bobcat statue, where Dever will hand the diploma cover to the graduate in that vehicle.
Vehicles will then be asked to leave the parking lot, to avoid large gatherings.
School officials are suggesting that graduates be passengers rather than be distracted drivers along the parade route. Students are encouraged to decorate their vehicles with their name.
“While this is not exactly what we all envisioned a commencement exercise to look like, we believe that it is unique and allows the entire community to join in and help us celebrate a class that experienced an unprecedented situation,” Scruci said.
“The responsibility that I have as superintendent is to make decisions that keep our students, staff, and families healthy,” he said. “I would rather be criticized for being conservative to keep students, staff, and families healthy and safe than to take a risk and be partially responsible for someone being infected.”
