ODESSA, Texas — It's almost two months from the end of the current school year. This means that cap and gown season is upon us. This year's group of seniors won't be the only group of students celebrating graduation this year.
The class of 2020 is getting an opportunity to walk the stage this year after COVID cancelled many school activities at the end of last year. Scott Muri, ECISD's superintendent made a promise that the class of 2020 would eventually get to walk the stage.
"We realize that prom and graduation and all of those senior events were cancelled and so we made a commitment to the class of 2020 that as soon as it was safe to do so we would hold a traditional ceremony for the class of 2020," Muri said.
That is now going to be a reality. Those 2020 seniors will get to have all of the pomp and circumstance of an actual ceremony.
However, making all of it happen is a whole new ballgame.
"Logistics, logistics, logistics. We have lots of really smart people, not me, that have figured out the logistics of the situation involved. While Ratliff Stadium is owned by ECISD, the other venues we use are not ours, and we are grateful to our partners at UTPB and OC for allowing us to use their facilities for graduation," Muri said.
While Dr. Muri says we're in a much different place now than we were a year ago, safety remains a top priority.
"We still need to maintain social distancing. We need to make sure that we continue to wear masks. With this graduation being an outdoor event, for large groups of people that we have we will be limiting the number of people that attend graduation," Muri said.
There is a lot to celebrate come May for both seniors now and the class that was forced to go without.
"I would remind our community that we're really celebrating the class of 2020 and the class of 2021, and so our business community when you’re putting up signs or you know anyone else in our community that celebrates our graduates, it’s important for us to remember we’ve got two classes this year: 2020 and 21," Muri said.