June 5, 2020 was NOT graduation day at Tigard High

When I was a student teacher at Tigard High School in 1988, my mentor teacher (Joe Calpin) helped me encounter the full spectrum of the educator experience. Besides guiding me in how to plan and how to teach, he strongly suggested I assist with the JV softball team, which led to a 20+ year career coaching high school softball, mostly as a Varsity assistant for several different head coaches. And he insisted that I help with graduation, which was held that year at the Chiles Center on the University of Portland campus. As a life-long musician who has been involved in countless shows, I realized after the ceremony was over that graduation is The. Best. Show. Ever. It's an amazing production, with myriad moving parts that all come together to make a fantastic show, and the graduates are the stars. People are happy and rejoicing and for an evening, everyone is celebrating. And I have worked every Tigard High graduation since.

 

Education is a family affair

We have graduated out of our own stadium for over 20 years, and we do it up better than pretty much anyone. As Graduation Coordinator, I work with the Graduation Administrator and Senior Class Advisor, plus a fantastic support staff, and we've got our moves down. Reserving extra bleachers, ordering floral arrangements, auditioning seniors who want to provide musical entertainment, assisting valedictorians with their speeches, making arrangements for the fireworks show, printing entry tickets for friends and family. In early March, I met with the representative from the company that provides the sound support for our outdoor ceremony. Four days later, COVID-19 closed down all schools in Oregon. 

Such a jolt. Students immediately reached out and asked "What about the band trip?" "What about prom?" And, "We'll still have graduation, right??" And, not knowing what living during a time of pandemic means, the response was "We really have no idea - stay tuned and we'll let you know as soon as we know". The 1st thing that happened was the cancellation of the band Disney performance and clinic trip (we were supposed to be on a plane on March 21). Then prom. And Spring sports. And school became an online phenomenon, invented and re-invented as we go along. And then, in-person graduation was cancelled. 

Many things have been done in the interim to make sure that our seniors will be celebrated. Online meetings with student representatives. Suggestions from parents. Graduation committee meetings. Countless conversations with technical experts. Drive-thru senior cap and gown pickup with yard signs, balloons, music, and Kessler's fog machine. Updates from the Oregon Department of Education. Directives from TTSD administration. More graduation committee meetings.

Graduation balloon pillar

Fast-forward to today, June 5. The calendar says Tigard High Graduation - 7:30 pm. And family is not gathered in the stadium. Students are not in the gym, adjusting their gowns. I do not have a microphone in my hand and I am not saying to them "TIGARD HIGH SCHOOL, ARE YOU READY TO DO THIS???" as we line them up in a serpentine to process out of the gym and down to the field. There is no presentation of the colors, no band playing Pomp and Circumstance (nod to Edward Elgar), no array of 15 seats x 15 rows x 2 sections on the turf with a wide aisle to accommodate two lines of robed and capped seniors marching in to cheers. There is instead, an odd emptiness hanging over the evening. 

The stadium scoreboard, lit up for the Class of 2020

And then at 7 pm, my daughter (THS Librarian and Graduation Assistant) started laughing and showed me the Doppler radar and the hourly weather forecast. With our outdoor venue, weather is always stress-producing, some years more than others. [Several years ago, with possible lightening activity in the forecast (!), local meteorologist Sally Showman graciously texted back and forth with me all day, helping us decide that yes, we WOULD be safe to go through with our outdoor celebration.] And now, this first year in decades with no stadium graduation happening, the thunder and lightening was upon us. A cosmic joke, perhaps?  

Active weather, right over THS. Just as the prelude music should be starting.

Graduation this year looks different, and yet similar. Valedictorian speeches will still be heard, but have been recorded for the virtual ceremony. Students have auditioned for musical entertainment as well, for that same taped celebration. Valedictorians and IB Diploma candidates were presented with their medals and hoods, during a drive-around delivery by administrators and senior teachers. A teacher chosen by the students will offer words, school board members will congratulate, and the Senior Class and ASB Presidents will turn their tassels, all on tape. And there will be a drive-thru ceremony on June 20, where one graduate at a time will get out of their car in Cook Park for their diploma and photo op with administration. Friends and family will be able to watch, thanks to a local media company that will help us out with live-streaming in a location that normally has no WiFi.

June 5, 202 was NOT graduation day at Tigard High. But June 20 WILL be. AccuWeather says it's supposed to be quite nice. But I might shoot Sally Showman a message, just in case.

 Looks like a nice day