Despite Covid-19, District 20 holds five graduation ceremonies in five days

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- Featuring more than 1,800 seniors and five different graduation ceremonies, seniors at District 20, despite Covid-19, were still able to get their special moment.

On Friday, It was nearly 400 students from Rampart High School that gathered in their caps, gowns, and masks. 

Hadassah Nix said, “Feels really good, I’m glad we didn’t have to wait until July. It’s really nice to see familiar faces after all this time and we have waited a long time and I think we really deserve this.”

While another graduate, Peyton Robertson added, “Honestly I’m just glad we have a ceremony because for a while it was looking like we weren’t going to have one so I’m glad to be here today.”

This ceremony today, Culminates a long week of hard work setting up five different graduations on the exact same field. 
Jim Smith, Assistant Superintendent of District 20, was in charge of planning and setting up each graduation. He said the goal was to have a successful, safe, and fun week, keeping social distancing in mind. 

"When they come in we will have them distanced before pictures, six feet apart of course or more. Then they will make their way to their seats where we of course have been sanitizing every night. They will have a bottle of water there and then we will dismiss by row,” said Smith.

To make sure they are following proper guidelines, the health department held inspections every single day.

Smith said, “I would say that they have been a great partner with us. The planning and pulling it off and then they have been here everyday monitoring what we would say we would do in the plans.”

And even though it wasn’t their ideal ceremony, both students and parents were thrilled it still happened. 

One parent, Eric Nix, said, “Just watching, first time something like this has ever happened and just to know it’s going to happen that they are going to graduate, it’s really great.”

Shannon Leighton said, “Be able to be here and hit that milestone in life we are really excited about it so we have something to look back on.”