THS to host virtual graduation

Though this year’s Tucumcari High School graduation will forgo many of its traditions because of coronavirus restrictions, it will add a few new wrinkles that should make it memorable — including its seniors going out with a bang.

The high school will host a virtual, drive-in graduation ceremony at 6 p.m. Friday in front of the building at 1100 S. Seventh St.

“I think it will be good, and we’re going to make sure it happens,” school superintendent Aaron McKinney said in a telephone interview last week. “It’s going to be a memory they can take away. They’ve been cheated out of a lot, but we’re going to make sure this happens for them.”

Each graduate and his or her family’s vehicle would be directed to a numbered parking spot near Rattler Gymnasium by high-school staff starting at 5 p.m. Friday. Everyone in the vehicle must wear a mask and observe social distancing from others. A number would be placed under the windshield in indicate the alphabetical order of the ceremony.

Staff then would direct the graduate and his or her family’s vehicle into the high school’s bus lane to a designated spot for their turn during the ceremony.

Staff would guide the graduate from the vehicle onto a 40-foot-long red carpet and proceed to the stage in front of the high school to receive a diploma from McKinney.

“We will let a firework off every time one of them graduates,” McKinney said.

Family members would be allowed to leave their vehicle to take photographs from a designated area near the end of the stage, McKinney said. At the end of the stage, the graduate would be allowed to take off the mask for better photographic image. The school also would use a professional photographer to document the moment.

McKinney said the school would erect a second backdrop nearby so parents can take another picture of their graduate. But they’ll have only about 60 seconds or so to do it so the next graduate can use it.

After that, they would return to their vehicle and leave the parking lot.

McKinney added he would have officers from the city, sheriff’s department and state police in the area “to make sure everybody conforms to the rules.”

Though details are still being worked out, McKinney said the ceremony would be livestreamed on a to-be-determined webpage and Facebook. KTNM-AM 1400 in Tucumcari also will broadcast it.

McKinney said no speeches or other ceremonies associated with graduation are scheduled this year.

“We’re going to put up cameras at different angles where each senior is going to have a video of that graduation we’ll put together for them with pictures, speeches and everything else,” he added.