Lubbock’s high school seniors walk this weekend

Lubbock’s high school seniors will be accepting their diplomas in front of their classmates and a select few family members this weekend.

Most graduation ceremonies taking place in Lubbock begin Thursday evening, and will continue Friday and through Saturday. As these students have probably grown accustomed to hearing, it’ll be different this year. Students will graduate outside, for one. They’ll also be seated social-distancing style, as will their family in the stands.

There will also be no handshakes, students and attendants are strongly encouraged to wear face masks, and graduates will not be allowed to congregate with their friends and family in the parking lot after the ceremonies.

Lubbock, Frenship and Lubbock-Cooper ISD have detailed lists of rules and protocols for the graduation ceremonies. Each student was given a set amount of guest tickets, four or five at most schools, to keep the capacity of the stadiums at 25% to allow for social distancing.

The ceremonies will also be showing on FOX34 channels, and streamed by the school districts on their websites and social media platforms.

A significant amount of planning went into these graduation ceremonies, said Dr. Kathy Rollo, superintendent at the Lubbock Independent School District. She acknowledged there are lots of changes, but she said they’re all for health safety.

Rollo said she’s really happy these seniors get an official graduation ceremony. She said they worked hard to get here, and she said a video or a virtual ceremony just wouldn’t be the same.

“We’re so excited for them,” Rollo said on Wednesday. “This is a very important milestone in a student’s life, and their family’s life. Being able to do it face-to-face is just so much more meaningful. When kids think about what graduation will look like when they reach that point, they don’t picture it on a computer screen.”

The ceremonies will also be the first time these seniors will see many of their classmates since the Friday before Spring Break, which was the last in-person school day before campuses were closed due to COVID-19.

“There are so many things that they did not get to do, that you normally do your senior year — prom and just all those senior activities that normally take place, just all the banquets and activities,” Rollo said. “We’re sad they missed out on that, but we’re really happy we get to put this final bow on it.”

Rollo said students will be asked medical questions and be screened before entering the stadium. She said there will be sanitizing stations and every-other row in the stadium will be closed for social distancing.

Rollo said it’s important for attendees to know what side of the stadium they’re assigned to sit on. She said you can’t walk from the east side to the west side of the stadium once you’re inside, so people need to park their vehicles and enter on the correct side.

Graduations at Lubbock, Frenship and Lubbock-Cooper will all take place at their respective football stadiums. Here’s the full schedule of graduations this weekend:

• Thursday, June 4 at 7 p.m. - New Home Academy
• Thursday, June 4 at 8 p.m. - Talkington School for Young Women Leaders
• Friday, June 5 at 8:30 a.m. - Lubbock High School
• Friday, June 5 at 7:30 p.m. - Frenship High School
• Friday, June 5 at 8 p.m. - Monterey High School
• Friday, June 5 at 8:30 p.m. - Lubbock-Cooper High School
• Saturday, June 6 at 8:30 a.m. - Estacado High School
• Saturday, June 6 at 8 p.m. - Coronado High School

“Our staff at Frenship High School is so thankful we get the opportunity to recognize our seniors’ 13 years of hard work by having a graduation ceremony,” said Greg Hernandez, principal at Frenship High School. “We do not take this responsibility lightly. It will look and feel different this year, but at least we can see them one more time and hand their diplomas to each of them before they go off to college, the military, or the work force. We are so proud of every one of them and want to wish each of them the best of luck in all their future endeavors.”

Because there are no handshakes, the typical stage walk will also be different for graduates. Rollo said the school district’s board members will be giving out diplomas, while wearing gloves.

Students will then leave the stage and take a graduation photo with their principal, six feet apart.

Lubbock Mayor Dan Pope talked about high school graduations during the city’s weekly COVID-19 news conference. The mayor said graduations are a big deal, and he’s thankful they’re taking place in Lubbock this weekend.

“There’s been many impacts in the last 80 days on our lives,” Pope said. “We’ve had weddings canceled, funerals done differently, many things postponed, trips, events, many important things to our community. Graduation is a big deal... On behalf of all of our citizens, we want to congratulate our seniors.

We’re thankful that they’rea willing to go about this differently,“ he continued. ”We’re thankful for our school leaders and their efforts to do this safely.“