Five years later, some COVID-era graduation traditions live on
In 2020, many districts turned to virtual ceremonies or heavily restricted in-person events. Five years out, high school seniors are able to enjoy a more classic ceremony. However, some central Ohio school districts continued select COVID-era practices, turning adaptations into new traditions. See previous coverage of 2020 adaptive graduations in the video player above.
Grandview Heights Superintendent Andy Culp said in 2020, the district hung banners of the graduating class along a fence on Grandview Avenue. Hayley Head, Grandview Heights' executive assistant to the superintendent, said the tradition has continued since. Initially parent-driven, Head said the banners are hung the weeks around graduation to celebrate seniors.
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'Five years later, this has become one of the many traditions that celebrate our graduating seniors and it is also a much anticipated community tradition as well,' Head said.
Bexley City Schools also continues to hang senior banners along Main Street post-COVID, as does Whitehall on Yearling Road. Whitehall Schools Director of Communications Amanda Isenberg said the district prints individual banners for each senior.
'It has become a visible way to celebrate our graduates and their hard work,' Isenberg said.
Larger districts were less likely to maintain COVID-era traditions. New Albany-Plain Local Schools spokesperson Patrick Gallaway said district bus drivers delivered yard signs for each graduate in 2020, but with 441 graduates this year alone, it was not cost-effective to continue it.
'The one thing we still do is a slide show that we run on the jumbotron at Huntington Park before the ceremony,' Gallaway said. 'It is definitely a labor of love.'
Gallaway said parents have also continued making an Instagram account each year since 2020 to celebrate the graduating class. The account is not associated with the school, but posts photos of graduates and their after-high school plans.
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New Albany-Plain is one of many larger districts that did not maintain new traditions, but have leaned into the technological or logistical adjustments from COVID. Hilliard and South-Western City Schools representatives both said commencement is almost entirely back to pre-COVID operations, but both schools now offer video formats for people who cannot attend in person. South-Western makes graduation videos available online after, and Hilliard livestreams the event.
Pickerington spokesperson Jacqueline Bryant said the district first implemented a ticketing system for graduation in 2020. The district continues to use ticketing, although students now receive eight tickets each instead of the two they had in 2020.
Olentangy spokesperson Amanda Beeman said the district adapted in 2020 and 2021, but has since gone back to its many pre-COVID traditions. She said with multiple high schools, anything else would be tricky. Gahanna-Jefferson, Reynoldsburg, Upper Arlington, Canal Winchester and Westerville also told NBC4 they have fully reverted back to pre-pandemic celebrations.
'We had a parade instead of a graduation ceremony in 2020. We tried doing both a ceremony and a parade in 2021, but it turned out to be too much for families to juggle,' Upper Arlington spokesperson Karen Truett said. 'We've been back to 'normal' for the past several years.'
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