OLDS — The École Olds High School (EOHS) graduation ceremony will be a combination in-person and virtual event this year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The date is known. It’ll be Aug. 21, starting at 5 p.m. And the location is known. It’ll be held in the TransCanada Theatre.
But other details, such as how many people will be able to participate are not yet known.
ÉOHS principal Tom Christensen says organizers are working on four different scenarios: an ability to accommodate 15, 50, 150 or 250 people.
The likelihood is it will be streamed via YouTube or some such platform.
A total of 128 students are eligible to graduate this year, about the same number as last year, if not down a few.
Right now, Christensen said, organizers are working on the assumption they’ll have 15 people in the theatre.
Christensen said under that scenario, most people would watch at home. A minimum of officials and tech people would be on hand.
The students and their family, etc. would drive to the theatre and be called in, one group at a time, to come on to the stage and receive their diploma.
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One advantage of doing it this this way is the family would be more involved, Christensen said.
“In a normal year, you don’t have a chance for the whole family to be up on stage with them,” he said.
“So we’re trying to kind of say, ‘OK, well, there are some things we obviously can’t do with the way things are, but what would be some things that we could do that would be special for them?’”
Normally, ÉOHS holds its grad in the Community Learning Centre gym. But Christensen said that’s just too vast a space for 15 people, so they decided to hold it in the TransCanada Theatre. Besides, he said, that facility works better for virtual transmission of the ceremony.
In previous years, the grad ceremony has included a grand march. That’s not likely to be possible this year, given the constraints imposed by social distancing rules.
So organizers and grads, along with town officials and RCMP are discussing the possibility of decorating vehicles and having a parade through town.
This year’s grad has been in the works since March.
Christensen said due to the COVID-19 restrictions, it’s by far the most challenging one he’s ever had to plan.
The number of people allowed to congregate keeps changing as Alberta opens up from the lockdown. That makes planning for an event a few months from now “a moving target,” he admitted.
“So it’s a challenge, but you know, they deserve to be honoured,” Christensen said.
“And you know, the words that they’re hearing all the time are ‘this is cancelled’ and ‘this is postponed’ and I just think that adds stress to them.
“So we just basically said, ‘August 21 we’re doing grad, and whatever our province will allow at that time, that will change what we can do, but we’re having grad on August 21.
“We’ve tried to really think of every angle. I’ve talked to Alberta Health a lot and got their advice.
“It’ll be fun. We’ll make it as good as we can for them.”
