Graduation plans coming together

    Murphy – The 128 seniors of Murphy High School will have a graduation ceremony that spans across all next week.
    Students and their seven guests will have an appointment either Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday or Saturday next week for their individual ceremony. Each ceremony will take place in the school’s gymnasium, where each student will receive their diploma.
    Each individual ceremony will be edited into a complete class graduation video, with student and guest speeches. The video will be released Friday, May 29 – the original graduation day.
    The class will also get to participate in a parade starting at 7 p.m. May 29. The vehicle parade will travel from the Sav-a-Lot parking lot up the hill behind Murphy Middle School, then onto the high school’s campus. Graduates are encouraged to wear their caps and gowns, and decorate their cars for the parade.
    Principal Jason Forrister expressed urgency in doing something for the class in a letter to seniors and parents that was shared publicly late Friday night.
    “You all have missed so much as it is, I would hate for the graduation date to pass by with no ceremony of any kind having been done and only a proposal of something later that may or may not be possible,” he said in the letter. “I have no idea what June, July, or August will hold regarding restrictions and public health.”
    Forrister said he, senior sponsors and assistant principal Wendy Leatherwood researched options that would celebrate the class, but also follow state and local health guidelines. He also discussed ideas with seniors in a Google Meet earlier in the week. He also said a traditional ceremony at a later date was still a possibility if conditions change and students propose one.
    In Gov. Roy Cooper’s executive order issued last week, the decision to hold graduation ceremonies was placed in the hands of local school boards and superintendents. However, those ceremonies had to operate in compliance with executive orders and health guidelines.
    Andrews High School will hold a graduation ceremony Thursday, May 28, starting with a social distance parade. Seniors will walk down Main Street, then up School House Steps, before students will be given their diplomas atop of School House Hill.
    Tri-County Early College High School in Peachtree plans to have a ceremony Friday, May 22. Hiwassee Dam and Nantahala high schools had not revealed graduation plans as of Monday afternoon.