CHS Class of 2021 to graduation on Arrow Field
By Guest Columnist Taylor McKay Hathorn
Clinton High School’s class of 2021 will be the first in CHS’s fifty-one-year history to receive their diplomas on Arrow Field after five decades of students turned their tassels in Mississippi College’s AE Wood Coliseum. The class of 2020 marked the first departure from the norm, as the Clinton Public School District opted to allow students to graduate in small groups over a period of four days, eventually meshing together the clips from each mini-ceremony to create a cohesive graduation video for last year’s seniors and their families.
This year, however, the entire class will celebrate its commencement together, with the ceremony slated to begin at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, May 28. “We are very excited that we will have this year’s graduating seniors together one last time to close out this unique school year,” said CHS Supervising Principal Brett Robinson.
This year’s seniors have indeed experienced a unique school year, as they witnessed their junior year be cut short due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and saw their senior year be drastically altered, as students in the CPSD were required to wear masks and to maintain social distancing, whether in the classroom or at after-school extracurriculars. Senior parent Anissa Young views CHS’s ability to host this year’s commencement ceremony as a worthwhile payoff for students’ and parents’ dedication, saying, “The administration had to make some tough decisions on what activities could be held safely, which ones could be modified, and what had to be cancelled this year, all with the goal of a May 28 graduation.”
For CHS seniors, the district’s progress toward this goal was commendable. “I’m impressed with how well people have adapted to change this year, especially the leaders at the school,” Thomas Graham remarked. “They’ve overcome challenges.” Bethany Young agreed that the challenges were many, saying, “The COVID adaptations definitely made the year a little harder. We weren’t able to have pep rallies or school dances.” Despite the absence of such events, Young noted that the administration “did a great job trying to provide other events.”
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A full, in-person graduation remained the goal as many other senior-year traditions were temporarily shuttered, and Graham and Young both called the May ceremony a motivating factor in their journey through a year affected by COVID. “Even though we didn’t have a normal year, it will be nice to have an in-person graduation,” Young concluded.
Brett Robinson concurred with the seniors’ assessment, saying, “This group of seniors have experienced a once-in-a-lifetime interruption in achieving their academic goals, and they have worked hard to persevere and make it to the end of their senior year.” The seniors’ families, too, have experienced the repercussions of this extended interruption, and each senior will be able to invite up to ten relatives and friends to celebrate this milestone with them while still observing CDC social-distancing protocols for outdoor events. “I believe CPSD has done everything they can to provide a senior year for our 2021 graduates that looked as close to normal as possible,” Anissa Young stated. “I know that when my daughter walks across that stage at graduation, those hard choices and sacrifices will have been worth it to be able to share the night with all her classmates.”
For those who are unable to attend the event, the CPSD will offer a livestream free of charge at www.clintonpublicschools.com.
