Families, staff, waterfalls celebrate Class of 2020

On June 29 at 6:30 p.m., the Charles O. Dickerson High School Class of 2020 commencement ceremony, held at Taughannock Falls State Park, was a testament to the long, tough journey school administration, staff and students have faced since COVID-19 hit the county.

Once the pandemic closed schools in March, districts around the county have scrambled to adapt to online learning, and one of the biggest unknowns for everyone was if and how seniors would get to have a graduation ceremony. Trumansburg Central School District was no exception, as High School Principal John Koeng explained.

“Planning [graduation] has been just extremely difficult because of the fact that there has been so much change in terms of the guidance in dealing with the virus,” he said. “Because the information is changing on a literally day-by-day basis, planning an event for the end of the year has been just next to impossible because we just never knew what we would be allowed to do.”

Earlier this month, New York state limited attendance at graduation ceremonies to 150 people, and Gov. Andrew Cuomo proposed a variety of options for schools to consider to hold a graduation while still abiding by health and safety guidelines.

TCSD’s graduation was a hybrid model, incorporating a small, in-person graduation with drive-ins for family attendance, all held at Taughannock Falls State Park.

“Our community worked together, including the mayor, the police chief, technology experts, state park officials of Taughannock Falls, students, student council, class advisors, administrators, … and teachers to plan the 2020 commencement,” said TCSD Superintendent Kimberly Bell. “Commencement planning took numerous planning sessions and underwent many revisions, including change of the date to allow for a public gathering.”

Bell said that the graduation plans were of course not what everyone in the village would’ve preferred under better circumstances, but she and other administration have been pleased by the support from both students and their families.

“Our community was initially disappointed that we would not have our traditional graduation at the school stadium,” she said. “However, over the course of weeks of planning, I believe our community has come together and recognized this may be our greatest year in terms of celebrating individual successes and honoring our entire student body in new ways, creating new traditions.”

Bell and Koeng agreed that it was important to still hold some kind of commencement, as the Class of 2020 more than deserves it.

“Everybody wants to do something great for these kids,” Koeng said. “They have lost so much in terms of this school year as a senior class. They didn’t have their senior prom. They didn’t have their senior trip. They didn’t get to have the last third of their school year with their friends and teachers, which is this whole process of winding down high school and transitioning into college life. They essentially lost that time together.”

Trumansburg Mayor Rordan Hart shared that sentiment.

“The rug was pulled out from under them,” Hart said. “I don’t think anybody’s under any illusion that this is an attempt to make things feel normal. There’s nothing normal about it, but [it’s] to make it special for these kids that are graduating but lost a significant portion of their senior year. And I think that was important to everyone in the community to try to do what we could given the guidelines as they came down.”

Koeng, Bell and Hart all offered some final words to the Class of 2020.

“I am super proud of them and their resilience,” Koeng said. “I am just thrilled to see them becoming an amazing group of young adults.”

Hart also expressed a sense of pride toward the graduating class.

“Being able to adapt and adjust to the craziness that life can throw at us is something that we all have to learn sooner or later,” Hart said. “I hope that they look back on this years from now with some sense of accomplishment that they weathered the storm and then came through it and in the long run will be better for it because they overcame something that they never would have imagined that they would have had to take on.”

Bell encouraged students to take on the future with confidence despite the circumstances.

“Congratulations to the entire class of 2020,” Bell said. “You have been presented with obstacles this past spring that will forever change how you view and navigate the world. As you leave the comforts of your family, friends and school community to pursue your dreams, remember to always take actions and make decisions that you will forever be proud of doing. Go forward and be kind.”

IN BRIEF:

Rotary awards grants

The Trumansburg Rotary Club announced the award of three grants in amounts up to $1,000 to local not-for-profits.

The Ulysses Philomathic Library received a grant to aid in free book distribution tied to its Summer Reading Program.

Stay Wild Rescue and Rehabilitation, under the direction of Jane George, received a grant to expand wild animal and cat rescue operations to facilitate inclusion of more student volunteers.

Funding was also awarded to add children’s books to the library’s collection and to purchase ice cream gift certificates from a local vendor to use as a celebration for participation in this year’s Summer Reading Program.