by Adam Levine ’20

After a survey sent out to the Class of 2020 and their families, MCPS has decided to hold a virtual graduation in early June and plan for in-person school ceremonies once restrictions on gatherings have been lifted.

In a May 10 email sent to the community, MCPS explained that “Based on the feedback [it] received from more than 8,000 students and parents, [it] has decided to take a hybrid approach to graduation,” indicating both an in-person and virtual ceremony.

While senior Morgan Dunn was appreciative of the county’s efforts to make up for the lost graduation ceremony as much as possible, she thought that holding both ceremonies might be too much. “I personally voted for no online graduation and just an in-person one,” Dunn said. “There’s the nationwide online graduation and there’s the MCPS online graduation and I feel like it kind of takes away from the moment when you finally graduate because it’s like ‘Which one is your real graduation?’”

But senior Melissa Bitting holds a different view, believing that it serves as a “best-of-both-worlds” option, ensuring that no matter what happens with the virus in the future, seniors will be recognized.

“It guarantees us at least some type of graduation, but still provides us with the opportunity for the much desired in-person one,” Bitting said. “If MCPS had decided to just do an online graduation, I believe that many seniors, including myself, would feel quite defeated knowing that we’ll never be able to walk across the stage in front of our peers, family, and teachers. In contrast, if MCPS had chosen to only do an in-person graduation, that could run the risk of the coronavirus persisting for so long that we would never actually be able to have it.”

Principal Eric Minus explained that following the “universal graduation” honoring seniors throughout the county, the Sherwood community will then transition into a school-specific ceremony that will be more personalized.

As for what students can expect from the Sherwood-specific ceremony, Minus seems to be focusing on the celebration of the students and acknowledged that parents and students have reached out to him with what they want to see out of this graduation. Minus plans to commemorate the students as much as possible and “make sure it has more of a Sherwood personal touch.”

“I think it’ll be a little more condensed because we will just be coming off of the universal graduation which is going to have a speaker, it’s going to have music, it’s going to have all of those pieces,”  Minus said. “We’re just looking … to honor our students in the way we believe they should be honored, but also still following the guidelines that have been set forth by the state and by our district.”

Because each high school must follow these guidelines established by the school district, the pace for planning any event is determined by the county. Each high school and principal can’t plan their next move until the county makes a decision first, Minus said.

Dunn echoed Minus’ intentions for the Sherwood ceremony, explaining that she hopes they can make it as personal as possible. But Bitting hopes for more, wishing Sherwood allowed students to pick up their graduation materials and do a “drive-thru” graduation, in addition to the parent-planned celebration on Friday, May 22 along Gold Mine Road, as an opportunity to see and thank her teachers one last time.

In Minus’ most recent update, he states that “Although we will not be able to physically gather as one class and community, it is [his] hope and expectation that we fully participate and recognize seniors as much as possible and have them shine, albeit online.” More updates about graduation will continue to be announced through Minus’ weekly Principal’s Message.