With the COVID-19 pandemic ongoing, many events and traditions in the Wrangell community have been cancelled. The Wrangell School District has closed its doors for the remainder of the academic year, hosting classes virtually.
While this rather unique school year is drawing to a close, school staff are working to make sure the graduating class has a memorable end to their high school careers. Jack Carney, interim principal for Wrangell's secondary schools, said that plans are in the works for a COVID-safe prom, senior awards night, and graduation ceremony. These are preliminary plans, Carney said and will be finalized in the near future.
The current plan for prom, Carney explained, is to host the event on May 9 at the Nolan Center. Students and a few family members will be ushered into the Nolan Center where they can get photos taken. They are going to follow all mandates for public health safety, Carney said. The full plan is still awaiting confirmation from the state level, but he said that families will be made aware of what the final plan is soon.
"Aleisha Mollen is running that," Carney said in last Monday's school board meeting. "She just got approval today to use the Nolan Center for kind of a modified prom."
Senior awards night is going to be more straightforward, he said. This will take place on May 13, via Google Hangouts. Carney said they are encouraging families to log in via a single device together, and not separately on their own devices. This is because of bandwidth issues. Only senior awards will be given out during this ceremony, he said. Honor roll recognition and classroom awards will be sent out to families with the students' report cards. As the date draws closer for the award night, Carney said they will provide the public with the call-in information.
Last but not least, graduation is being planned over the course of two different days. On May 12, students will get to walk across the high school gym in their cap and gown to receive their diploma. This will be one student at a time, to maintain social distancing recommendations, and the event will be recorded and photographed. Students will get most of the components of a regular graduation, Carney said.
"The 12th is going to be really fun, it's going to take some time," he said.
Then, on May 15, a stream of the graduation service will be posted online. There will be a few live components to the stream, as well as the prerecorded graduation ceremony. Afterwards, Carney said there are some plans in place for a community parade to honor the graduating class.
All of these plans need approval from the state level before they can take place. As the dates for the events draw closer, Carney said the plans will become more solid and people will be informed of when, where, and how they will be able to participate. Safety is a big priority. Carney said that he wanted to thank the Wrangell community for all their support of the school district and the graduating class, and that he welcomes any advice they might have to offer.
"The seniors are my main priority this year," Carney said. "I just want to finish the year strong, especially for the senior class."
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