A graduation year the community will always remember

In a letter to students at North Canaan Elementary School sent before this year’s promotion ceremony (held on Wednesday, June 10) North Canaan Principal Alicia Roy said, “This is a very exciting time in your life and it is going to be even more special now that we have to make changes due to the coronavirus.  It will definitely be a graduation we will always remember.”

Graduation is always memorable for the graduates, of course; but this year’s promotion ceremonies will be memorable to all in our Northwest Corner communities. In some towns, the ceremonies could be more inclusive, as students drove through their towns and accepted congratulations from community members who stood on roadsides and waved. 

Mostly, though, the pre-k to grade eight schools in the Region One School District held small and simple ceremonies meant to honor the students for their accomplishments while keeping everyone safe from potential coronavirus infection. Car parades were held in nearly every town (between June 9 and 12); some were short and some were long, all were heartfelt and joyful. 

Most of the schools posted or will post videos, speeches and lists of awards on their school website. 

North Canaan Elementary School

By Leila Hawken

A car caravan carrying excited students and their immediate families crept through the roadway leading to North Canaan Elementary School during the 2020 promotion exercises. Honking horns occasionally punctuated the late afternoon air. 

After collecting their diplomas and having a portrait taken by photographer and North Canaan resident Sonja Zinke, each student received a gift packet and a special cupcake. 

One additional surprise was the surreptitious overnight installation of a lawn sign at the 21 students’ homes, with a class photo commemorating their years at North Canaan Elementary School.

North CanaanElementary School Class of 2020

Veronica Bonett, Mia Claydon, Myranda Cables, Haley Leonard, Katarina Foster, Kayla Jacquier, Evangeline Petkovich, Grace Morey, Candelaria Ramos, Grace Riva, Evan Bockting, Spencer Jasmin, Westyn Doyen, Juan Estrada-Arbelaez, Damien Cortsen, Noah Lettrick, Collin Thyberg, Walter Hayward, Payton Wells, Aden Labshere, Jonathan Minacci

Cornwall Consolidated School

By Cynthia Hochswender

The weather was gorgeous, ultimately, when nine students finished their time at Cornwall Consolidated School. The ceremony had originally been planned for Thursday, June 11, but was postponed to Friday, June 12, due to the possibility of rain.

Students — dressed in gowns, with caps — and their parents lined up in motor vehicles in the school parking lot and traveled uphill to the bus unloading area one by one to receive a flower  and some appreciative personal remarks and observations from Principal Pat Corvello and a diploma from school board Chair Catherine Tatge. 

They then flipped their cap tassels and were allowed to take their face masks off long enough to get a photo portrait by Tom Brown, who is a school staff member and a professional photographer.

The students each walked back down the front steps of the school property and received a gift bag from board Secretary Annie Kosciusko — accompanied by honking and cheering from the other graduates and their families. 

Cornwall Consolidated School Class of 2020 

Emily Anderson, Tabark Ashraf Aljasem, Kathleen Kimber Bodwell, Wyatt Rose, Alexis Rougeot, Dana Sue Saccardi,  Hudson Lane Sebranek, Jimmy Ismael Villa Arpi, Emma Jean Vincent

Lee H. Kellogg School

By Patrick L. Sullivan

The five members of the Class of 2020 at the Lee H. Kellogg School all arrived with their families at the school parking lot well in advance of the 6:30 p.m. start on Tuesday, June 9.

Staffers provided balloons for the cars, to add a festive air.

Outside the school was a small table with diplomas and gift baskets, and a little ramp lined with flowers for the students to walk up.

The students sat in their cars with their families until asked to walk up and accept awards and diplomas.

The faculty and staff stood 6 feet apart from each other and well away from everybody else.

Lee Kellogg Principal Lexie Juch made brief remarks, saying that even in the COVID-19 era it was important that the school maintain traditions, such as including  a copy of “The Little Engine That Could” in the gift baskets.

Faculty remarks about each graduate were recorded and a video link sent to each family. The traditional slideshow is on the school’s website.

After the ceremony, the faculty and staff walked down to the sidewalk along Main Street and a few moments later the cars drove slowly past. Everybody waved and shouted congratulations. 

The cars proceeded into the village center and then to Route 7 via Warren Turnpike.

Lee H. Kellogg School Class of 2020

Joshua Aaron Crump,  Logan Michael Dean, Cerena Jane Fechteler, Keegan William Olsen, Hazel Marie Palmer

Kent Center School

By Lans Christensen

One couldn’t ask for a more perfect evening than that which fell on Friday, June 12, and blessed the Commencement exercises at Kent Center School. 

These were the school’s 92nd such exercises. The format was different, due to the COVID-19 quarantine, but the ceremony was as meaningful and important as ever. 

The 20 graduates and their immediate families parked in their cars across from the school, where teachers and administrators were lined up. 

Principal Michelle Mott offered greetings to all, and then announced the winners of the essayist awards and the President’s Education Awards : Marra Elsesser and Kara Franks for the first, and Austin Hoadley, Ashley Wilkins and Marra Elsesser for the President’s Award. 

Then, one by one, the graduates’ names were called and the students came to the platform and picked up their diploma and a bag of awards and commemorative gifts. 

Hearty applause followed every student; many of the graduates were touched, and showed their emotions: joy and maybe a bit of sorrow at leaving familiar friends and a beloved place. 

Staff and teachers then lined the sidewalk and cheered and waved as the parade of departing cars passed them. 

This promotion ceremony was new and different, but no less touching and emotional — perhaps even a little more so.

Kent Center School Class of 2020

Tristan Blore, Samuel Booth, Nicholas Chavka, Taylor Christen, Nicholas Dorn, Marra Elsesser, Skylar Fitch, Kara Franks, Adrienne Hall, Gage Heebner, Theodore Hicks, Harold Hoadley , Lanna Kennedy, Shane Miller, Sydney Parsons, Carl Posse, Sophie Rousseau, Zachary Thompson, Isaac Watkins, Ashley Wilkins, Eason Zhang

Salisbury Central School

By Patrick L. Sullivan

Prior to the Salisbury Central School eighth-grade promotion ceremony on Friday, June 12, teachers and staff lined Main Street in Lakeville as cars with students and parents (with an occasional bemused traveler in the middle of it all) paraded up and down the road, led by the Lakeville Hose Company.

Many of the cars were decorated with signs and balloons. One sign read: “Honk and cheer — You made it through a wild year!”

At the oval in front of the school’s upper building, Principal Stephanie Magyar, Board of Education Chair David Valcin, music teacher Rob Nellson and Region One Superintendent Pam Vogel waited for the fire engine bearing graduate (and junior firefighter) Kiera Reid to arrive before getting the program started.

The ceremony was basic. The students arrived, got out of the car, picked up their diplomas and writing portfolios, and returned to their family and their car.

Science teacher John Conklin stopped some cars in order to take selfies with the students, including Braden Murphy.

The school’s website has a list of all the awards. Students received an email link for the speeches and traditional slideshow.

Salisbury Central School Class of 2020

Sam Bristow, Lorelei Gnerre, Ayla Hill, Hunter Horton, Caiden Hussey, Ginette Ireland, Elizabeth Kracht, Aron Ladanyi, Leland Macaire, Riley Marshall, Jerome Maury, Tamara Morris, Braden Murphy, Amber Ramcharran, Kiera Reid, Raye Richard, Sara Shook, Rebecca Storm, Gabriel Valencia, Yaritza Vega, Allison Wang

Sharon Center School

By Hunter O. Lyle

Nine of the 10 graduates in the Class of 2020, and their families, lined up in cars in the bus lane in front of Sharon Center School on Tuesday, June 9. Principal Karen Manning offered congratulations to the students and spoke a few words. The students then got out of their cars, in turn, went up to receive their diploma and a gift bag and had their photo portait taken by Board of Education member Plamen Platkov. 

The convoy of families then left the school and drove into the center of town. The cars took two laps around the town Green while a crowd with signs cheered them on.

Sharon Center School Class of 2020

Finn Cousins, Samantha Crodelle, Jenna Lee Farina, Mary LaFond, Dylan McDonald, Fiona Roy, Joshua Shaw-Cahill, Jorie Welshans, Shelby Whitesel, Gage Wilkinson

Haley Leonard, North Canaan Elementary School. Photo by Leila Hawken

Region One’s Pam Vogel, left, and Lisa Carter and NCES Principal Alicia Roy. Photo by Leila Hawken

Dana Saccardi, Cornwall Consolidated School. Photo by Dave Cadwell

Wyatt Rose, Cornwall Consolidated School. Photo by Tom Brown

Lee H. Kellogg Principal Lexie Juch. Photo by Patrick L. Sullivan

Adrienne Hall, Kent Center School. Photo by Lans Christensen

Salisbury Central teacher Matt Janco. Photo by Patrick L. Sullivan

Kiera Reid, Salisbury Central School. Photo by Patrick L. Sullivan

The Hall family celebrates Dylan McDonald, Sharon Center School. Photo by Hunter O. Lyle

Jorie Welshans, Sharon Center School. Photo by Hunter O. Lyle

Haley Leonard, North Canaan Elementary School. Photo by Leila Hawken