A Very Different Kind of Graduation Season is Underway in Palm Beach County
By Jaida Haynes
For Kamryn Mills, senior year of high school was supposed to be crammed with memory-making moments.
Thanks to the novel coronavirus pandemic, there was no band trips, proms, senior recitals or awards ceremonies. Worse, there was no senior walkouts, no all-night Grad Bashes, no last hugs from favorite teachers and no commencements.
“At first (when classes were suspended), I was happy,” said Mills, a graduating senior from West Boca Community High School.
Then her excitement quickly evaporated.
“I got upset because I didn’t want to spend any extra time in school. I wanted to graduate,” said Mills who picked up her cap and gown from her assistant principal last week. “To be honest, as it got closer to graduation and they started cancelling things, I got more upset. I feel it was my one chance to enjoy my senior year and do the things I had been looking forward to doing, and I did not get to experience it.”
Like Mills, thousands of class of 2020 graduates are crestfallen that they will not have the opportunity to say last goodbyes to their closest friends and must reflect on their high school experiences alone.
Local high schools are being creative as they try to balance public health concerns with the desire to provide seniors some semblance of the kind of ceremony they have long anticipated.
After pushback from students and parents, some schools are improvising by awarding diplomas to graduates in their cars at drive-through cap and gown pick-up parades. For example, at Village Academy in Delray Beach, the 27 graduates received their goodies along with a healthy dose of applause from teachers, family and friends who watched from a safe distance. Others have planned virtual events.
Despite current events, Mills is remaining positive and uplifted as she reflects on her many accomplishments during her high school years.
She served as president of KOP Mentoring Network for the past two years. The STREAM-focused nonprofit organization uses non-traditional programs to prepare students for life after graduation.
Under Mills’ leadership, the students participated in several community service projects and expanded their learning and got real-world experiences through educational field trips, Mills said. She also spearheaded the Inaugural College Fair, which attracted 15 recruiters from colleges, universities, trade schools and the armed forces.
“Even though I did not get to do a lot of the things we wanted in my senior year, I still did a lot during my time in high school and I had a lot of fun,” said Mills, who plans to enroll in Alabama State University in the fall. “Many of the things I did, so many other students wouldn’t have done it. They would not even give it a second thought. When I look back, I am happy I did those things. I don’t have any reservations because I wouldn’t have been here now.”
The anticlimactic ending has been tough for Atlantic Community High’s Alysha Hinds, who has been anticipating the rite of passage since middle school.
“It’s just not fair” Hinds said, adding that she will not have memories of some of the biggest milestones.
Beyond the list of milestones, she laments that her family won’t be able to see her walk that stage. She bought a beautiful dress and was excited about giving them the chance to see someone from their family have an accomplishment like this.
Although she was presented her cap and gown in a drive by, the unorthodox non-ceremony did not impress her.
“What’s the point?” said Hinds, who will be the first in her family to attend college. “I guess it is for memories but we never had the experience of walking across the stage. So it is pointless to me.”
Tonya Spivey is also disappointed because she knows how hard her daughter worked for years to get to her big day.
“I wanted to see my baby walk across the stage,” Spivey said. “I have been waiting all these years and now I can’t even watch her walk.”
