EDITORIAL: CONGRATULATIONS TO THE GRADUATES

It was neat to see how the three schools we cover — Freeman Academy, Freeman Public and Menno High School — pulled off graduation last weekend. Some districts didn’t even hold a commencement, so that our students got a chance to be recognized as scheduled amidst the COVID-19 pandemic is noteworthy. Congratulations to the schools for pulling it off and the students for earning their high school diploma. It truly is one of life’s true mile markers.

Each school held their graduation in the way they deemed appropriate, as did those districts who chose to either cancel or postpone this year’s formal ceremony. We’re all dealing with — and responding to — this pandemic in our own way, and if ever there was a time to extend grace, this is it.

Freeman Academy and Freeman Public were forced to alter their plans because of cool, windy weather and the threat of rain; Freeman Academy made a last-minute adjustment to move its commencement from outside to inside Pioneer Hall while Freeman Public pushed its graduation activities back 24 hours, to Sunday. Both moves proved to be the right call.

Menno Public School, meanwhile, held graduation inside the district’s main gymnasium Saturday afternoon as scheduled.

In all three cases, the ceremonies were closed to the public and for family members only, and social distancing guidelines were followed. Freeman Academy, out of an abundance of caution, limited its ceremony to immediate family members only, asked guests to wear masks and wiped down the lectern after each speaker. Each graduate was seated in bleachers with their family.

At both Freeman Public and Menno, the senior class was seated together but separated from one another, with the Flyers on their track and the Wolves on their basketball court. Families of the graduates from both districts, meanwhile, sat in clusters at an appropriate distance from one another.

All three districts made their commencement available to the general public remotely; Freeman Academy’s was broadcast on the radio while Freeman Public and Menno’s could be watched online.

And, in all three cases, references to the coronavirus pandemic and just how strange this all is, were made a number of times.

It is strange. Seeing graduates in cap, gown and mask was unnerving and the limited attendance unfortunate and unsettling. But credit goes to schools like Freeman Academy, Freeman Public and Menno High School for doing their best and pulling off their commencement in these unprecedented times.

If ever there was a lesson for the Class of 2020 to take with them out into the world, it is the one taught by the COVID-19 health crisis and how their respective alma maters dealt with it: You can’t control what happens to you, you can only control how you respond. It’s a good reminder for all of us.

Jeremy Waltner, Editor & Publisher