Latest news with #Gallaway
Yahoo
4 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Five years later, some COVID-era graduation traditions live on
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — High school graduations were among the hundreds of practices adjusted in the wake of COVID-19, and five years later, some still don't look the same. 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. Big Lots reopening fourth wave of revived Ohio stores '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. Where to find specials Friday for National Donut Day 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.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Otago Daily Times
22-05-2025
- Sport
- Otago Daily Times
ODT Rugby Chat: Two of the top performers
On ODT Rugby chat we talk to players from two of our better performed clubs GI and Southern, in the form of Ronan Dynes(GI) and Tafa Tafa(Southern). We ask Ronan about the horrific leg injury he suffered in the first game of the season and how is recovery has gone? We check on the walking wounded at GI as they had 4 on crutches at one stage. We ask Tafa Tafa about playing his blazer game a couple of weeks ago against GI. We ask him how Southern are tracking after monstering Kaik at the weekend? We check with both on how the other teams are faring at their respective clubs and who they think wins the Gallaway?
Miami Herald
14-02-2025
- Miami Herald
Enslaved people took refuge at pioneering hotel on NC Outer Banks. But perils awaited
A hotel was North Carolina's first 'safe haven' for enslaved people during the Civil War. But perils still awaited those who arrived. In the 1860s, African Americans escaped to one of the state's Outer Banks barrier islands. Hotel De Afrique opened as a place for people to stay, but the site was marred with flooding, violence and other problems, according to historians. Hotel De Afrique, featured in Harper's Weekly on Feb. 15, 1862, leaves behind a complicated legacy. Here's what we know 163 years after the magazine was published. How did the Hotel De Afrique start? In the magazine, Hotel De Afrique was depicted with a wooden facade. A flag can be seen flying from the top of the building, which is surrounded by people and boats, according to copies published online. The building on Hatteras Island is considered the 'first safe haven for African Americans' escaping slavery in North Carolina during the Civil War, the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum wrote on its website. 'After the Union won the Battle of Hatteras Inlet in 1861, federal forces took control of the island,' the Outer Banks History Center wrote Feb. 3 in a Facebook post. 'News quickly spread to the mainland, and enslaved people began traveling to Hatteras seeking refuge. Due to this increase of new families on the island, a wooden structure was designated as lodging.' What was life like on the island? Hundreds of people reached the original Hotel De Afrique, also referred to as Hotel D'Afrique or Hotel De' Afrique, by boat. It was located near Hatteras Inlet, a waterway that separates two Outer Banks islands. 'The now freedmen received housing and food. In return, African Americans provided intelligence for Union forces, leading to more Union victories along the coast,' the National Park Service wrote online, adding that newcomers were among the first Black people to fire at the Confederate military. Though the Hotel De Afrique has been called a 'safe haven' for people who escaped slavery, trouble persisted for those who arrived. 'Some historians say it should be considered as more of a labor camp rather than a comfortable place of living,' UNC-Chapel Hill's Carolina K-12 program wrote on its website. 'The original shelter was next to the inlet and flooded frequently.' In 1862, Hotel De Afrique was destroyed in a storm and rebuilt on higher ground 'with 10 to 12 barracks,' experts said. A major flash point came when Union soldiers entered Hotel De Afrique and 'attacked the defenseless occupants with knives and bayonets,' killing a man known as Galloway or Gallaway, according to historians and the Museum of the Albemarle. 'Not all the white people at the site embraced the idea of equality of the races,' the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum wrote on its website. 'Drunken soldiers caused unrest, which resulted in violence and the murder of a Black man. The soldiers only received a reprimand.' The site that once housed the Hotel De Afrique is near the present-day Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum. It's 'part of the Underground Railroad which commemorates the resistance to and the flight from enslavement,' according to the National Park Service..
