MPCHS celebrate original graduation date with drive-by parade

MT. PLEASANT - Though this past weekend wasn't quite the graduation Mt. Pleasant High School seniors were expecting, students were still able to celebrate four years of hard work with a drive-through parade.

Originally scheduled for May 17, MPCHS's graduation has been moved to June 27 due to closures and social distancing guidelines set to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus. At the most recent school board meeting, principal Todd Liechty said the school was holding an adapted version of a celebration on the original graduation date to recognize students and their accomplishments.

As part of the parade, posters of each senior with their name and picture were printed and lined around the school's parking lot for families to see as they drove by. Community members as well as teachers from the district also lined the parking lot to congratulate students.

Maui Whaley, a MPCHS senior who attended the parade with her parents, said she thought the event was 'really cool.”

'I think it's really good. They're reaching out to everybody and trying to keep us all close since it's our last year. We get to see everyone's faces, even though we didn't get to fully graduate normally,” she added.

Fellow senior, Naudia Beachy, said it was disappointing her class 'didn't get to finish [they're] senior year the way it was supposed to be,” but gathering for the parade was a nice holdover until they could actually have their graduation.

'This kind of makes up for it. It means a lot and it made it a lot better. It was something to look forward to, especially since today was supposed to be graduation day,” she said.

School board President Jennifer Crull, who waved to students from her car, said it was especially important to celebrate seniors because of the 'disruption we've had to normalcy of life.”

'[It's important] to celebrate their accomplishments because four years of work has gone into this day for them. To me, that has to be celebrated and since we had to postpone graduation, I am glad we could acknowledge what was originally their graduation day and celebrate them,” she said.

Crull also noted graduation is one of her favorite events and looks forward to handing graduating seniors their diplomas in June.

'There's so much emotion that goes into it and just the reality as we recognize that they're moving onto the next chapter of their life,” she added.

Beth Campbell and Janey Baylor, paras who work at the high school, also participated in the parade by holding up signs and waving to students as they drove past.

Campbell said missing the latter half of the year has been 'kind of a bum.”

'You miss the kids. They missed a lot too” she said.

'I think [the parade is] boosting their spirits up. They have missed out on a whole lot that they haven't got to do and we're trying our best to get things like this for them,” she added.