Lennox High School holds virtual graduation ceremony to honor senior class

For students all across the country, this semester has been all about adapting.

That's why Lennox High School has elected to give its senior class a virtual commencement ceremony.

Principal Chad Allison says staff and faculty held Zoom meetings with students to discuss how to proceed with this year's graduation, and virtual graduation seemed to be the best option.

To make the idea a reality, students were filmed Monday walking across the stage as they had their names called to receive their diploma.

"This senior class, I told them at the beginning of the year, they're a special group to me," Allison said. "They were in sixth grade when I started here, so they were my first group of students when I came to Lennox, and I've grown very close to them over those seven years, so it's very important to me to honor these students in as much of a way as we can."

All these brief snippets will be complied into one complete graduation video that will be released on May 9th, the day when the original ceremony was supposed to be held.

"I think it's great that the management of our school really cares about the students and that they are letting us do this graduation, they've shown a lot of hard work in helping us get here," Lennox High School Senior Riley Williams said.

Allison says the virtual graduation is a way to at least give the students a way to celebrate their accomplishment.

"We hope it'll be a keepsake, a memory. We've taken a lot of things away from seniors over the last several months, we want to give them something back," Allison said.

To keep everyone safe and comply with CDC guidelines, students arrived in staggered five minute blocks, and were only allowed to bring four people with them for their big moment.

"It was quick, but I think it's better than nothing, I got to walk across the stage and get my diploma, I'm happy with it," Williams said.

The school does plan to hold a traditional graduation ceremony later this summer, but it is still unclear whether or not that will actually be possible, and for now, that date has not been set.