With graduation ceremonies uncertain, teachers send students a hopeful sign
‘Nobody wants to cancel,’ Denis Morris principal says
Apr 29, 2020 by Gord Howard The St. Catharines Standard
With high school graduation ceremonies uncertain, teachers at Denis Morris High School wanted to send their grads a sign that they were thinking of them.
So they sent them signs — 220 of them.
Tuesday morning, 22 teachers and staff from the St. Catharines Catholic school fanned out to drop off lawn signs at the homes of each graduating student.
They said: Home of a Denis Morris Reds graduate, class of 2020.
"It's about recognizing the grads," said principal Dan Di Lorenzo, who credited teacher Meg Leighton for putting it all together.
"It's a time when I know they're worried about graduation, their grad social, and at the end of the day it's a nice pick-me-upper. Like a bouquet of flowers coming to someone's house."
Other schools across the region have done the same thing. A parents' group from Greater Fort Erie Secondary School used its own money to post lawn signs for grads.
With all publicly funded schools closed until at least May 31 due to COVID-19, graduation ceremonies for both Niagara Catholic District School Board and District School Board of Niagara are in flux.
"We have not decided what we will do with respect to graduations, however, we feel we still have time and are considering a few options on what they may look like," said DSBN spokeswoman Carolyn Loconte.
That could include June ceremonies, but with "appropriate safety precautions," fall graduations or virtual ceremonies online.
She said the board will follow Education Ministry guidelines and seek ideas from students, parents and staff.
Similarly, the Catholic board plans to decide closer to June whether to postpone ceremonies until the fall.
Faith Campbell, who will graduate this year from Denis Morris, said it was a nice gesture by the teachers.
"We found out on Twitter from one of the teachers that they had a big surprise for us," she said.
Later on the school's Instagram page, students posted photos of themselves with their signs.
She said as the school reopening kept being extended, she started to worry about graduation ceremonies. She's been accepted at Tyndale University in Toronto for religious studies, starting in the fall.
While no decision has been made yet, Di Lorenzo thinks ceremonies might be held in October, close to Thanksgiving when students studying elsewhere will be coming home.
"Nobody wants to cancel graduation or cancel prom," he said.
He doesn't like the idea of an online commencement: "I hope not, even if we have to do two graduations next June, there will be a ceremony."