Our seniors have really taken the brunt of the COVID-19 induced school closing. Seniors, while we cannot truly understand what it’s like to miss out on the remainder of your senior year, we sympathize beyond measure, and want to do everything we can to recognize our amazing graduating class of 2020. 

This being said, last Thursday, April 30, we handed out caps and gowns to our seniors. Principal Semple says, “We operated on a staggered schedule to allow the seniors to come to the building and observe strict social distancing protocol; the students’ temperature was checked on their way in the door, their names were checked, and they were given a washable mask to wear and keep.” There were stations set up for them to get their cap and gown, photos for banners and video, athletic photos, form tables which required their signatures, and a table to pick up artwork. A special shout-out to Amanda Schumacker for sewing 65 masks for our seniors in 24 hours! 

The schedule and flow was created by Julie Casto, Monroe Central’s English and French teacher. “The students arrived and did what they needed to do on-cue and were extremely well-behaved. We could not be happier with the students and staff who came to help today!” Principal Semple beams. This couldn’t have been executed without the help of many Monroe Central staff. 

“We are very excited the community has come together to assist us in making this recognition become a reality!” says Ms. Casto. The community has been extremely generous to Monroe Central in a variety of ways: 

• The seniors’ photos were taken by PSK Photography and will be sent to MACO Photography, who has graciously offered to print the photos onto 2’ x 4’ banners. 
• The township has arranged to hang the banners in the town square. 
• The images will be compiled and uploaded onto a video, and Josten’s has provided us with an online video platform to create our Senior video for free. 
• Superintendent Caldwell has offered to have the SOLSD cover the cost of having our video broadcast over the Fox affiliate of WTOV 9. The video will be approximately 26 minutes and is tentatively set to broadcast June 4 between 7:00-8:00 PM. 

We are currently keeping our options open for some type of recognition on the night of what would have been the seniors’ graduation. We are still hopeful we will be able to do something to recognize our graduates further. As those plans become finalized, an announcement will be made to inform the Monroe Central community.