The staging of the prom Wednesday, followed by an indoor graduation today at Bradford Area High School, are both indications that normalcy has returned somewhat to this year’s end-of-year activities at the local campus.
Superintendent Katharine Pude reported Wednesday that graduation ceremonies at 7 p.m. today have been moved inside to the auditorium, thanks to the easing of COVID-19 restrictions by the state.
“We were going to do the graduation on the turf, but the weather is not going to cooperate,” Pude explained. “The weather forecast (Tuesday) was calling for thunderstorms and lightning, and we have a lot of equipment we rented (such as) the sound stage and a big screen TV so the audience could see the graduation ceremony. But we didn’t want to put anybody at risk with thunder, lightning and the rain.”
Pude noted the eased mandates are allowing for larger capacity crowds indoors.
“We do have a lot of kids in our graduating class in cyberschool and in our online classes who don’t want to come in for graduation,” she continued. “It’s actually a smaller class (participating in the in-person ceremony) indoors.”
She noted that a large portion of the students who will participate in the in-person ceremony are vaccinated, further alleviating concerns about the spread of COVID.
Pude did note that all who participate in the indoor event will be asked to wear masks, in adherence with state mandates at this time. She said families will also be asked to sit together in groups, if possible.
“We’re looking forward to having a graduation ceremony inside and will have it set up as safely as we can,” she added. The one activity graduates and their families may notice is that there will be no reception in the cafeteria following the ceremony.
School board president Shane Oschman said he, too, was glad that commencement could be moved inside.
“Knowing what the weather forecast looked like, we thought it would be appropriate,” Oschman remarked. “Families plan for these sorts of things and they might have graduation parties with family coming in from out-of-town. So changing the date was of concern because it might not work for all of them.”
Meanwhile at Wednesday’s prom, students participated in dances set up in the gymnasium, the cafeteria and in an outside tent.
Students who commented on the prom included Bella Mager, a senior, who was glad the event was held, but “wished everyone was together.” She was also glad graduation ceremonies were to be held inside the school.
Another senior, Elizabeth Valine, said she was very happy about the event.
“I’m very excited we got to do something that is more normal,” Valine commented. “And graduation will be nice, we’ll get more people, too.”
The girls’ two escorts, Jacob Sarnoski and Garrett Meyers, both juniors, said they, too, were pleased the school conducted the prom. Both wished they could attend the event with all of their classmates, however.
“I think it’s nice to have after all of this COVID that has happened,” Meyers conceded. “It still has a little bit of the guidelines, but it’s still nice to be able to get out at least, instead of staying at home.”
