Students who learned about sacrifice to celebrate twice

The members of Port Washington High School’s Class of 2021 have had to forego some of the highlights of high school during the pandemic, but after a challenging and sometimes disappointing school year they will leave Port High on a high note with not one but two graduation celebrations on Sunday, June 6.

A 2 p.m. ceremony in the high school gym will be smaller and probably shorter than usual but otherwise be a traditional commencement celebration complete with speeches and the presentation of diplomas.

“What really matters most to these kids is that they have the opportunity to walk across the stage and receive their diplomas,” Principal Thad Gabrielse said. 

After the ceremony, graduates will have time to put the finishing touches on their cars before a 4 p.m. vehicle parade through downtown Port Washington, an invention of the pandemic that last year was the school’s only graduation event.

The dual celebrations are a result of a survey asking seniors whether they prefer a traditional ceremony or a vehicle parade.

“Believe it or not, it was literally a tie,” Gabrielse said in March when the results were tallied. “So we thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if we could do both this year.’

“I’m not making any promises that the parade will continue in future years. It’s a Covid thing, but we thought it was important to give these kids something special to make up for everything they missed during the pandemic.”

Most of the school’s 176 graduates will leave the high school — one per vehicle — and head east on Van Buren Street to Wisconsin Street, then go south on Wisconsin as it turns into Franklin Street and drive through downtown before heading west on Grand Avenue to the Niederkorn Library, were the parade ends.

When the idea of a vehicle parade was floated last year as an alternative to a traditional ceremony, it was met by skepticism from some students. But the vast majority of seniors participated, and what was billed as a school event that would allow the families of graduates to gather outside to commemorate graduation turned into a community celebration with people lining downtown streets to cheer the Class of 2020 at a time when a little cheer was needed.

“It really was a community event,” Supt. Michael Weber said. “It was more successful than we ever imagined.”

Although this year’s parade is in addition to a ceremony, it will allow relatives of graduates who can’t attend the program, which is limited to two guests per graduate, to participate in the celebration.

The school had wanted to hold an outside ceremony to accommodate more people, but because several graduates plan to leave home the day after graduation, there was no way to schedule a rain date, Gabrielse said.

“It would have been a rain-or-shine outdoor ceremony, and it certainly could have been miserable because of rain or heat,” he said, adding that the forecast for Sunday makes an indoor ceremony look like the right call. “The forecast calls for 90-plus degrees on Sunday, which would have been a real scorcher if we were outside.”

The ceremony will also be live-streamed on Facebook via a link on the school website.

For those who attend the program, masks are required, although graduates will be able to remove them when receiving their diplomas.

Gabrielse said the gym will open at noon on Sunday and warned that parking will be limited because graduates will have their cars staged for the parade in school parking lots. The city swimming pool lot to the south of the school will be available, but other than that only street parking will be available. 

“It’s been a tough year, and a lot of kids have done a great job getting through it,” Gabrielse said. “I think they will have a great day on Sunday. They deserve it.”