(PETITION PERTAINS TO CEDAR RIDGE AND ORANGE)

A letter to the CRHS Class of 2020 and supporters,

Graduation has been changed to a “drive-thru” graduation ceremony. We are proposing that we postpone graduation until it can be replaced with a traditional ceremony, outdoors, and following necessary safety precautions.

Most of us are not happy about the “drive-thru” decision. Holding a ceremony with our cars is frustrating for our class because of these reasons -

The implication that all we desire is to walk across a stage to receive our diplomas, take a picture, and move on, completely disregards the entire purpose and intimacy of our graduation. High school graduation gives us the opportunity to say goodbye to the people who helped us along the way: our peers, friends, and teachers/staff before we move on to bigger things. 

The pandemic has taken away things like prom, senior days, last days of school, signing yearbooks, spring sports, senior nights, and other countless activities celebrating our accomplishments (we took it like champs and knew it was necessary). The bare minimum should be a thorough conversation about a social distanced graduation ceremony!

School has consumed our lives for thirteen years, we have worked our butts off. Most of our highs and lows in life have been experienced in this time. As of now, we have spent approximately 72% of our lives enrolled in school. The coronavirus happened at the very end of our academic careers and one semester cannot define our entire journey if it can be prevented. After hard work and dedication we would like a normal-ish ceremony.

On March 13, we were not given the time to say goodbye to all of the amazing people around us. Our graduation is the only chance left to do so. Other congregations of the class of 2020 will merely be fractions of the class because, inevitably, some will leave Cedar Ridge in the past completely.

The plans for this ceremony have been made under today’s guidelines, it could possibly be postponed to a later time in the summer in order to attempt a doctored traditional ceremony. The drive through decision was made largely without input from the class of 2020. To my knowledge, these plans are not set in stone and we have an opportunity Wednesday to speak up about it. We wanted to reach out to all of you to encourage everyone to speak up about your opinions of this plan. 

Safety is always top priority so moving the date to later will lower the possibility of spread, we would follow social distancing guidelines that are relevant to the time of the postponed date, as well as limit guests per graduate. We deserve to graduate alongside our peers and if possible, in front of our families and teachers. *see Colorado Springs Air Force Academy “social distanced graduation”

We have watched each other grow up and become young adults, and it would be a shame to move on from our childhood without proper closure.  We want to celebrate, and say goodbye safely together. We wish you all well, and stay safe during this historical time.

 
Drive-thrus are for getting BigMacs, not diplomas. 

Sincerely,

Concerned members of the CRHS class of 2020