CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — Colonel Gray High School students had a surprise waiting for them when they recently arrived at the facility where they studied for the past three years.
Personalized signs were posted on the front lawn at the Charlottetown school as a way to honour this year’s graduates.
“I was actually completely shocked,” said Fatima Al-Qaysi.
She was one of about 300 Grade 12 students who didn't get to have a standard graduation this year due to the coronavirus (COVID-19 strain) pandemic.
But they were still able to celebrate the occasion – the high school’s staff made sure of it.
Suzanne Lee, a teacher at Colonel Gray, said the school contacted a Charlottetown printing company about a month ago to have 292 signs made. The idea was for each graduate to receive a personalized Class of 2020 sign as a graduation gift they could proudly display on their own front lawn.
Lee has helped organize the school's graduation events in past years.
“But we’ve never planned anything like this,” she said. “We told the kids there would be a surprise on Friday.”
Ensuring pandemic health measures were adhered to was a logistical challenge on the day of the surprise. Staff volunteers started setting up the signs at 6 a.m. to ensure they were appropriately distanced from one another.
Students started to arrive by noon to discover the signs laid out in front of the school's front doors. According to Lee, many of them were surprised and appreciative.
“Some of them may have guessed,” she said, laughing.
Al-Qaysi said it was a considerate gesture because they, like many students graduating this year, weren’t able to celebrate the milestone the way they expected to at the beginning of their school year.
“I thought it was really valuable.”
Caroline Trinh, another graduate, agreed it was an original way to acknowledge their achievements and act as a send-off.
“It’s something that was really different,” she said.
Ready for next chapters
Fatima Al-Qaysi and Caroline Trinh, both graduates of Colonel Gray High School, said their teachers were very supportive during their final months of high school, even though they couldn't attend classes in person due to the coronavirus (COVID-19 strain) pandemic.
Al-Qaysi plans to study at UPEI for a year before pursuing dentistry at a Halifax university, while Trinh will be studying business at a Quebec university, although it might be online courses at first, she said.
Both students were optimistic they'd be able to achieve their education goals amid the uncertainty ahead.
"The pandemic doesn't stop me from doing the stuff I want to do," Trinh said. "(But) I will just have to go with the flow, I guess."
"I don't feel like there's any obstacle that's facing me," Al-Qaysi added.
Daniel Brown is a local journalism initiative reporter, a position funded by the federal government. Twitter.com/dnlbrown95.
