Here’s what it’s like to graduate in 2020, and how local districts are honoring grads
Unsettling, abrupt, devastating, empty, underwhelming — these are all words three local members of the Class of 2020 used to describe how it felt when their final weeks of high school went remote in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19.
Those weeks are typically packed with lasts: last classes, last times eating cafeteria food, last dances, final exams, last sporting events, last performances, what can feel like last goodbyes. For these seniors, lasts happened when they didn’t even know they were lasts — or, in other cases, were rushed or strange.
“I feel like it was super abrupt, and I feel like I personally haven’t given it the proper goodbye,” Maddie Cognasso, a senior at Capital High School in Olympia, told The Olympian.
Cognasso was involved in student government and was in the middle of planning a semi formal dance for her classmates when schools were shut down, she said. She had just designed fliers, made tickets, and was decorating the school’s common area.
Jack Sawyer, a senior at Olympia High School, was looking forward to participating in Unified soccer, a program for which he’d play on a team with students in special education. He had just outfitted his car with an under-glow kit and window tint, he said, and was looking forward to spending time in the parking lot before and after school with friends, “shooting the breeze.”
Ashley Swanson, a senior at North Thurston High School, was deeply involved in the music department — a pianist in the jazz band, a trumpet player in the symphonic band, a drum major for marching band, and part of the jazz choir. She said she was sitting in fourth period with the choir, preparing to compete at the state level, when she got the notice schools were closing.
“We got to sing through our song that took us to state one last time together,” Swanson said. “And we were all crying, and it was a mess.”
The students describe a period of not knowing what was going to happen. They weren’t sure, at that point, if goodbye was really goodbye, or if they’d be back in school together at some point. For a few weeks, Cognasso said, all she did was read the news.
“I was never satisfied, I was never at ease,” she said. “We were constantly like ‘What’s happening?’ It was a time when even the adults didn’t know what was happening. I didn’t really know what to expect,” she said.
Soon enough, with an order from Gov. Jay Inslee that all schools close through the end of the year, it was clear they wouldn’t be coming back.
“I was pretty upset with Jay Inslee, I thought it was a little unnecessary,” Sawyer said. “But it wasn’t his fault, it was something he had to do. It got very real at that point.”
They started realizing prom and performances and rituals they were expecting either wouldn’t happen or would look very different than what they envisioned. It felt like a weird dream she would wake up from, Swanson said.
“One thing we all look forward to is our last concert,” Swanson said. “We stand up, get our roses, and all the moms are crying. We never got that — it’s kind of empty and disheartening.”
Jeff Sawyer, Jack’s dad, told The Olympian he was looking forward to a tradition during which graduating seniors visit their elementary schools and walk through the halls in caps and gown — an “unofficial thing” that connects them to where it all started.
And, even though Jack Sawyer wasn’t planning to go to prom, having the option taken away “sucked,” he said. He also gained a sudden appreciation for his graduation ceremony.
“I think, for the first time ever, we all want a graduation ceremony,” Sawyer said. “... It’s a privilege. Once you start taking that for granted, that’s taken away — I’ve gained a new appreciation for it.”
In some ways, the students are now independently seeking the closure they might’ve found in revoked rituals.
Cognasso said she’s writing letters and thank-you cards to some of her teachers and sending graduation announcements. She wrote her graduation speech sitting in her school’s parking lot at midnight, she said, and then taped it at Garfield Elementary, where she once went to school.
“I’ve done a lot of reflecting and thinking about who got me where I am,” she said.
Swanson said the choir sang together one last time, virtually, by recording themselves singing “Just Believe,” which she described as a song “about there being hope for the future.” And she just learned she’s been selected as the musical performer for her class at graduation, after auditioning via video.
Sawyer said he plans to write emails to the teachers he’s had over the last four years. And he was able to complete his Eagle Scout requirements and submit his application.
Meanwhile, their school and district administrators, teachers, and other empathetic adults are getting creative, making plans to honor them in ways that give this transition the weight it deserves.
Swanson said a Facebook group formed called “Adopt a Senior,” and people from that group have left her baskets with goodies, including notes and a T-shirt. All three students mentioned their schools making yard signs in their honor.
Jeff Sawyer says the family had made plans for a backyard barbecue with a group of families they’re close with who all have graduating seniors. They’ll still try to do something similar to their original plans, while complying with public health guidance.
“We’re trying to make the best of what we had originally planned,” Sawyer said.
Some schools’ plans will give the community a chance to celebrate seniors, too. Capital High School, for example, is honoring grads next weekend. Graduates and their families will take part in a vehicle parade that starts at Westwood Baptist Church. Community members can stand socially distant along the parade route to Capital High School, with staff cheering on grads at designated areas.
As the families arrive at Capital, they’ll park in a waiting area until it’s their graduate’s turn to walk across a stage — wearing a mask, except for a photo op. The parade and stage walk will be streamed live, and a radio station is streaming audio of the stage walks, Cognasso said. Later this month, the virtual parade and speeches will be compiled and seniors will go to the Skyline Drive-in Theater in Shelton for a viewing, according to Cognasso.
“I feel like our staff recognized we were experiencing so many losses, it was time to do something a little more extravagant,” she said.
How districts in Thurston are honoring high school graduates
North Thurston Public Schools
All four North Thurston high schools will have their traditional ceremonies, says spokesperson Courtney Schrieve. North Thurston, River Ridge and Timberline will have their ceremonies at Saint Martin’s University, where students will walk in alphabetical order, 6 feet apart, across the stage and get their diploma cover and picture taken with the principal.
However, the only non-students that will be in the SMU building will be the principal, vice principal, a videographer and a photographer, and the event will be live-streamed online and parents can watch on a TV outside the venue or through the open doors at the rear side of the pavilion. South Sound will have its graduation at a performing arts center, Schrieve said.
On May 29, NTPS bus drivers volunteered their time to arrange 22 buses to form the year “2020” for the graduating class, Schrieve said. Drone footage and photos of the display are on the district’s Facebook page.
Olympia School District
Olympia School District will live-stream each of its graduations, according to information provided by spokesperson Susan Gifford. Ceremonies on school campuses are restricted to the graduates, their families, and designated school staff, she wrote.
The Transition Program will have a virtual ceremony on Zoom, and Olympia High School will have an in-person ceremony at Saint Martin’s University, but how many people can be there will depend on whether the county is in Phase 2 or 3 of re-opening when it comes time for the event. Avanti High School and Olympia Regional Learning Academy (ORLA) are hosting drive-in ceremonies on campus similar to the stage-walk Capital High School has planned.
Graduation dates and more information is available on the district website.
Tumwater School District
Along with turning on stadium and field lights on April 17 at 20:20 — which several districts participated in — Tumwater distributed signs to graduates to display at their homes, the district Facebook page has been honoring grads, and elementary schools that graduates attended are hosting “senior walks,” “senior drive-throughs,” and similar events, spokesperson Laurie Wiedenmeyer wrote in an email to The Olympian.
Schools in the district are also celebrating their graduates.
Black Hills High School, for example, is giving seniors T-shirts the day they return their Chromebooks and textbooks, pick up their things, and otherwise wrap up their time in high school. Among other events, the school is hosting a live-streamed baccalaureate, distributing yearbooks, and hosting a drive-through stage-walk.
Aug. 1, Black Hills plans to host the “largest ceremony permitted by law” for a more formal graduation. Tumwater High School has similar plans.
Rainier School District
Rainier School District hosted a virtual graduation ceremony at 5 p.m. Friday, which was slated to be streamed live on Facebook. Afterward, seniors drove through the area as community members cheered.
Rochester School District
According to a tentative plan posted on its website, Rochester expects to host a variety of events to honor seniors — including displaying signs in downtown Rochester June 7, an awards night June 9, and live-streamed diploma walks during an assigned window of time June 14.
Also June 14, the high school is planning a senior parade with public viewing in several locations along the parade route, which is on the district’s website and Facebook page.
A full graduation ceremony is tentatively planned for Aug. 9, but could be virtual if necessary, according to the posted district information.
Tenino School District
In an email, Tenino High School Principal Lisa Perreira told The Olympian the school is planning an in-person drive-through procession graduation ceremony at 6 p.m. June 12 at the school’s Beaver Stadium and a virtual senior reception the evening prior. At the reception, there will be a class speaker, awards, scholarship recognition, and a slideshow, Perreira wrote.
Yelm Community Schools
Yelm will host a graduation ceremony June 14, Superintendent Brian Wharton told The Olympian.
The district plans to broadcast the pre-recorded opening of the ceremony — the principal’s welcome, valedictorian, salutatorian, honor speaker speeches, and announcement of honors — live on YouTube. Then, seniors, who are assigned to groups, will drive to an outdoor stage set up on the high school’s campus, step out of their car and pick up their diploma cover.
An area will be set up for families to take photos from their cars, and a photographer will be there to take formal photos, Wharton said. Then, the graduate will get back in their car.
“The drive-thru portion is being televised and recorded,” Wharton said. “So, after the graduation ceremony, any kid that didn’t get to participate, we have a virtual profile that we’ll add to the recording.”
All families will get a copy of the edited video, he said. The school also had a successful drive-through cap and gown pick-up, Wharton said, where every student got a yard sign. And, the district is featuring every student on Facebook, asking community members to like or share the post, or post positive comments for each student. Wharton said that’s been “incredible.”
Traditionally, Yelm seniors meet at sun-up on campus on their first day of school and have a “sunset ceremony” on their last day, Wharton said. The sunset portion will be virtual this year, he said; the school’s creating testimonials and a platform for seniors to communicate with each other for a “virtual sunset.”
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