A8 • Friday, April 16, 2021 | Seaside Signal | SeasideSignal.com
High school plans drive-thru graduation
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Astorian
While it takes effort to
become a graduate, a school
graduation ceremony is
usually the easy part.
But as schools approach
another June under the
cloud of the coronavirus
pandemic, some adminis-
trators are waiting to see
what conditions — and
Clatsop County’s case met-
rics — are like closer to the
date before they lay con-
crete plans. Others antici-
pate graduation events sim-
ilar to last year’s socially
distanced,
drive-thru
ceremonies.
Seaside School District
will replicate the drive-thru
ceremony it held last year,
complete with a parade
down Broadway Street to
a vehicle turnaround at
the beach where graduates
received their diplomas.
The district will then hold
a formal ceremony at the
Seaside Civic and Conven-
tion Center parking lot.
“We know that is doable
under any metrics that we
see,” said Jeff Roberts,
the Seaside High School
principal. Also, he added,
the drive-thru event was
“incredibly well-received
by graduates last year.”
Students this year specif-
ically requested it for their
commencement ceremony.
Clatsop
Community
College recently announced
it would hold a commence-
ment ceremony at CMH
Field in Astoria on June 18.
The field will also likely
be the site of the Astoria
High School graduation,
Superintendent Craig Hop-
pes said, though he isn’t
sure yet exactly what the
ceremony will look like. He
hopes it can be a bit more
intimate than last year’s
graduation, a drive-in cer-
emony where students and
their families spent much of
the time in their cars and at
a great distance from each
other.
Still, Hoppes expects
some social distancing will
still be necessary in June,
too.
In other school dis-
tricts, there have been pre-
liminary discussions about
what graduation ceremo-
nies might look like this
year but nothing final.
The rural Jewell School
District is considering dif-
ferent possible graduation
ceremony scenarios for a
June 19 event depending on
the county’s risk level.
While specifics are still
hazy, Principal Jon Wood
said, “We are going to do
something and it’s going to
be more traditional than last
year.”
The hope is to be back in
the low-risk category again
and have a “more normal”
event, he said.
Last year, the gradua-
tion ceremony for Warren-
ton High School students
required months of plan-
ning. In a normal year, the
ceremony would not take
nearly so much preparation:
there would be a rehearsal
the day before and then the
actual event.
Fortunately, high school
staff told The Astorian,
they’ve gone through a
pandemic graduation once
and have a better idea now
of what to do.
“Worst-case
scenario
Seaside Signal
Seaside High School’s 2019-20 graduation festivities included a vehicle parade down
Broadway, with students receiving their diplomas at the Turnaround and a ceremony in the
public parking lot downtown.
is we do what we did last
year,” said Josh Jannusch,
the Warrenton High School
principal. The pregradua-
tion parade through down-
town Warrenton and then
the drive-thru ceremony
were successful, he said,
and well-received by fami-
lies and students.
In Knappa, the high
school is looking at using,
ideally, the gym — for a
more traditional ceremony
— or the high school foot-
ball field — if capacity
is an issue and case num-
bers are high. It is possi-
ble to livestream events at
both locations, noted Lau-
rel Smalley, high school
administrator.
Still, what the ceremony
looks like, where it is held
and how many people can
attend will depend on the
situation in the county just
ahead of the June event,
Smalley added.
“We’re trying to think
ahead,” she said. “If
COVID’s done anything,
it’s made us think ahead.”
Addams Family: ‘Theater can be done anywhere, anytime, anyhow’
Continued from Page A1
Aria Taylor as the Addams
Ancestors.
In addition to the cast,
Susee has a tech crew of four
students: senior Jude Gomez,
junior Lili Taylor, junior
Ella Rodriguez and middle
schooler Kaden Bingham.
Junior Maggie Neuwirth is
the student director.
Typically, Susee has assis-
tance from choir director
Kimber Parker, who works
with the band and the cast
to perfect the music portion
of the production. However,
Parker was out on maternity
leave during rehearsals. Her
substitute, Lindsey Wildman,
wasted no time assuming
Parker’s role.
“Her first day as a sub, she
was there,” Susee said. “She’s
stepped in and she’s directing
(the students). She’s been a
huge help.”
The show goes on
Even amid the uncertainty
of the COVID-19 pandemic,
the high school’s drama pro-
gram has continued, albeit in
a different format. English
teacher Susan Baertlein
directed “Game of Tiaras,” a
completely virtual show that
streamed in February. Susee
held auditions for “Addams
Family” soon after.
“It was a quick turn-
around,” she said.
Not wanting to deal with
uncertainty and having to
change course mid-way
Seaside School District
Seaside students rehearse a scene from “The Addams Family.”
through rehearsals, Susee
decided from the start to offer
the play online instead of hav-
ing a live audience.
The students are meet-
ing in-person for rehearsals
— complete with masks and
sign-ins for contact tracing
— and their performance will
be recorded, an approach that
has its pros and cons, Susee
said. If there are mishaps that
occur during recording, they
can redo those sections.
“I get to kind of pick which
version is better, so that’s kind
of nice,” she said. “In a live
show, there are no do-overs.”
The virtual shows have
also mitigated any concerns
surrounding the completion
of the high school building at
the new campus on the hill, as
well as the challenges of gath-
ering in-person.
“Theater can be done any-
where, anytime, anyhow,”
Susee said.
Yet she acknowledges the
experience will still be a dis-
tinct experience for both the
cast and the audience.
“With musicals, it’s about
being there and having the
band,” she said. “It’s defi-
nitely going to be different
having people watch it in the
privacy of their home.”
Even though this perform-
ing arts opportunity is trans-
piring unlike it has in previ-
ous years, it’s still important,
in Susee’s opinion.
“As a teacher, I recognize
that this last year has been
crazy — crazy for everyone,”
she said. “You hear a lot about
the athletes — ‘the athletes
need to play’ — but there are
other groups, too. … The stu-
dents, they want to do some-
thing, they want to be active.
Theater is able to give them
that.”
Virtual audience members
can select which day they
want to watch the show. Tick-
ets are $10 per individual or
$20 per household. To pur-
chase tickets for this virtual
show, go to seasidehs.book-
tix.com/.
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