Childhood’s end for the Lawrence High School Class of 2020 won’t come under warm, sunny skies at the Cure Insurance Arena in Trenton next week, as it has done for the past decade.
Instead, the Class of 2020 will graduate from childhood to adulthood virtually in a special virtual graduation ceremony that will be posted June 19 at 7 p.m. on the Lawrence Township Public Schools and Lawrence High School websites at www.ltps.org.
That is the word from Lawrence High School Principal David Adam and school district officials. School has been held remotely since Gov. Phil Murphy’s announcement that public and private schools would be closed to students and staff to stop the spread of COVID-19.
The graduation ceremony will feature student speakers and remarks by Lawrence High School Principal David Adam, Superintendent of Schools Ross Kasun and school board President Kevin Van Hise.
It will also feature student performance, individual names and photos of each graduating senior, the presentation of the senior class by Kasun, and the conferral of diplomas by Van Hise.
Lawrence families and community members will step outside onto their porches and front yards for a community-wide clap out at the conclusion of the virtual graduation ceremony to celebrate the newest additions to the roll of Lawrence High School alumni.
Acknowledgment of the seniors kicked off May 1, when each senior received a “Class of 2020” lawn sign, paid for by Project Graduation and delivered by Project Graduation parents and high school administrators.
Project Graduation is a group of parents and community members that organizes a free, all-night graduation party with food and entertainment for the seniors under adult supervision. But since the Project Graduation party has been canceled because of COVID-19, Project Graduation has some other things planned – from a major prize drawing each Friday in June during the Lawrence High School administrative update, to “Adopt-a-Senior.”
Caps, gowns, a senior gift from Project Graduation, two tickets to the June 18 cap-and-gown photo opportunity and other goodies will be delivered to each senior’s home on June 12 by high school staff, administrators and faculty to each “adopted” senior.
The senior cap-and-gown photo op will take place on the high school football field. Each senior will walk across the stage – socially distanced – to be congratulated by Adam, the Lawrence High School principal. The senior’s parents may take a photograph, and a professional photographer will be on hand, too.
Larry the Cardinal, Lawrence High School’s mascot, will tour Lawrence to visit Lawrence High School seniors on June 16. The rain date is June 17.
The Senior Awards ceremony was posted in a video on the high school webpage May 28, while the Athletic Awards ceremony aired on the high school web page June 4 to highlight record-breakers, championship teams and senior scholarship winners.
