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By Drew Lawson
The Record 

Harrington School District celebrates trio of graduates

 

Last updated 7/1/2020 at 9:11pm

HARRINGTON – Harrington seniors Nik Clarke, Casey Lee and Mya Erickson got an in-person graduation after all this year. It was just a little different than a "normal" graduation, as could be expected with the pandemic.

The ceremony, held in the school gymnasium on Thursday evening, required that each guest wear a mask and be socially distant from one another in hopes of complying with Washington's Phase Three re-opening guidelines, which Lincoln County is currently in.

Each graduate was limited to having five guests in attendance. Maria Preston, a Harrington English teacher and senior class adviser, said all three graduates' guests featured strictly family members.

"They were all family members ... grandparents, siblings, aunts, parents," Preston said.

Graduates were still able to be recognized by their community prior to the "official" ceremony. Clarke, Lee and Erickson paraded up and down First Street clad in graduation garb before entering the gym.

The ceremony itself featured speeches from Erickson, the class valedictorian, and commencement speaker Ben Edwards, the school's math teacher.

According to a write-up provided to The Times by Preston, Erickson talked about "the historic significance of the Class of 2020, noting that the students were born in the wake of 9/11 and graduating in the midst of a pandemic."

Edwards, meanwhile, "spoke to the graduates about change and grace and what it takes to rise above challenges," according to Preston.

Each graduate got the length of their choice of song to play alongside a video featuring their pictures marking various stages in their lives.

Then, according to Preston, graduates "re-joined their community outside where they lined up on the sidewalk to throw their caps and celebrate the joyous occasion with the people who have supported them along the way."

The ceremony was live-streamed on the school's website through their YouTube channel.

Preston said the plans for graduation kept fluctuating as state requirements and re-opening phases adjusted within Lincoln County. A final direction was decided upon roughly two weeks before graduation.

"We actually had three or four different plans that we kept having to modify," Preston said. "As the state changed things and as Lincoln County opened up more, we were able to do more."

Seniors were involved in the graduation decision making process "as much as possible," according to Preston.

"We wanted to put on something that included them," Preston said. "(Seniors) have always had a fairly big part in planning the graduation ceremony, so we continued that this year over Zoom, texting and phone calls."

A final decision on how to carry out graduation was made when Lincoln County entered Phase 3 of Washington's re-opening protocol. Planning the ceremony featured more unknowns than usual due to uncertainty with what the county would allow for under public health guidelines.

Preston said the live ceremony was still similar to a traditional graduation, with exceptions being the mask-wearing requirement, guests being spaced apart and fewer people in the audience. She said a "normal" Harrington graduation ceremony usually has about 200 people in attendance, depending on the size of the class that year and how many people in the community show up.

"I'm really glad that we were able to give graduates as close to what they would have gotten if we didn't have to deal with COVID-19," Preston said.

Preston said she hopes the graduates felt celebrated despite the unusual circumstances.

"It seems, from pictures and their reaction during the whole process, that in as much as they were disappointed that (graduation) wasn't going to be what we're used to, they still got something that marked and celebrated the occasion," Preston said.

Author Bio

Drew Lawson, Editor

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Drew Lawson is the editor of the Davenport Times. He is a graduate of Eastern Washington University.

 

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