Senior events recognise the masked class

     The senior class has certainly had its share of missed opportunities during a challenging year with the COVID-19 pandemic, but the class of 2021 was honored on campus with two important events recently.

     The Rose senior breakfast was held on Friday, Apr. 30 at 10 a.m. beside the football field. All of the 2021 seniors were invited to the breakfast, and multiple teachers and administrators hosted the event. In previous years, it has been held in the cafeteria, but due to the pandemic other plans had to be made for the annual event.Typically, this event is held in the fall in the cafeteria and is sponsored by the junior class

     “We just felt this senior class hadn’t had anything to celebrate and we wanted to do something,” Dudley said. “Last year's seniors had already had their senior breakfast and convocation before

Photo by Edie Yount

COVID hit so they at least had that; these students hadn’t had anything.”

     Jostens, an American manufacturer of memorabilia, was at the breakfast delivering cap and gown orders to the seniors and the Academic Boosters were invited as well to sell Rose gear at the event.

     “We had breakfast, we made boxes for them to hold the food: choice of biscuit, a donut and drink,” Dudley said. “Having the boxes also helped eliminate a lot of the food contamination issues.”

     Since it was an outdoor event, the risks of COVID-19 spread are significantly lower than if it were being held indoors. Due to this, students were allowed to sit wherever they wanted, but all of the students' seating arrangements were recorded for contact tracing purposes.

     Of the 350 Rose seniors, 186 RSVPed to the senior breakfast invitation and about 150 of the students actually attended the breakfast. For the students who did not feel comfortable attending the senior breakfast, breakfast boxes were offered and they were given the option to stop by and pick up a box and then leave if they wanted more of a “grab and go experience.”

     “We ended up using some funds from the senior account, typically this money would have gone toward their senior picnic, but since they are not having that this year we redirected the funds.” Dudley said.

     Along with providing a late senior breakfast, this year's seniors will also be given a delayed awards day ceremony. 

     The senior awards assembly is going to be held in the gym at Rose on Friday, May 21. This date was planned based on the exam schedule. 

     Due to COVID-19, friends and family members will not have the option to attend the awards assembly in person but everyone who does not feel comfortable attending the assembly in person will be given the option to watch the awards assembly on livestream.

     “We will have fewer people, we will not have people there to present certificates or awards from the community as we have in the past,” Dudley said. “We are trying to work out having the junior marshalls in there as we normally do; they will most likely just have to wear gloves to hand students their plaques and medals.”

     “Awards day at Rose is always about celebrating our seniors' accomplishments so we will be announcing department awards,” Dudley said. “Each area of the school selects the senior they feel best represents them, [and] then we also announce any scholarships the students have received.” 

     Despite COVID-19 taking away various opportunities for the senior class at Rose, these two events should be a good finish to their high school career.