video edited by Gabe Castro-Root
Most high school seniors do not imagine sheltering in place and distance learning for their last semester of high school, let alone graduating from the passenger seat of their family’s car. This, however, was reality for Lick-Wilmerding’s Class of 2020 and other graduating classes. Lick’s class said good-bye to high school with a drive-through graduation.
Since LWHS’ founding in 1895, its students have lived through many significant circumstances, including the 1906 Earthquake, two World Wars, the Korean, Vietnam, Gulf, and the Iraqi/Afghan War, the 1918 Flu pandemic and the Great Depression. The COVID-19 pandemic now joins this list of historical occurrences.
On March 12, to prevent the spread of coronavirus, Lick closed its physical campus and began distance learning, moving all instruction online through Zoom, as it turned out, for the rest of the school year.
Due to social distancing orders, a traditional graduation was not permitted, but to ensure that the Class of 2020 could still have an in-person moment to celebrate their accomplishments, Lick held its first drive-through graduation in its 125-year history on May 30, 2020.
One hundred twenty-three seniors, along with their immediate family members, received their diplomas at the Cow Palace Event Center. Located in Daly City, the venue once hosted speeches by John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr., performances by The Beatles, and numerous gun shows and livestock expositions.
From the start of the ceremony at 11:30 a.m. until 2:30 p.m., families, divided alphabetically into groups of ten, were scheduled to arrive at the venue every 15 minutes. Graduates and their families were required to stay in a fully enclosed vehicle inside the Cow Palace Arena. The school offered to provide vehicles to families to ensure that all students could participate. A few days before the graduation, administrators dropped off students’ caps and gowns to their homes. Many students’ vehicles were decorated with banners, images of graduates, black and gold decor and celebratory messages.
“I’m excited…because I don’t really know what this drive-through graduation is going to be like,” said Jeannie Moreno ‘20 while on the way to Cow Palace.
Directed by Cow Palace employees in red jackets, graduates proceeded across the parking lot and drove through a corridor to the main arena of the event center, where Dean of Students Kate Wiley welcomed the graduates and briefed them with simple instructions. As students’ vehicles approached the stage, Assistant Head of School Randy Barnett, Junior/Senior Dean Oscar King and Head of School Eric Temple congratulated the graduates and their families with bells, whistles and cheers. After Barnett announced the graduates’ names on the PA system, Temple presented them with a diploma and a cowbell, a souvenir from Cow Palace. Pomp and Circumstance played in the background. These moments were captured by photographer Erika Jones ’99 before the cars exited the arena. The required face masks could not hide the excitement and joy of the graduates, their families and the administrators present.
Photo by Keira Nakamura
As the family of Shanie Roth ‘20 drove through the corridor leading to the main arena, her mother, Sharona Israeli-Roth said, “You feel like you’re going into a car wash.” She also expressed excitement as she neared the entrance to the main area; “Wow! We are driving into the palace!”
Allen Wilson ‘20 described the experience of driving through the Cow Palace as “a slow amusement ride.” The venue was decorated with columns of gold and black balloons adorning the entrance to the main area and large Lick-Wilmerding banners hanging on the walls.
“It’s different,” said Julia Hatfield ‘20. “It felt super organized [and] well thought out.”
All in all, the graduation felt only 30 seconds long, said Brandon Moore ‘20. Nora Hylton ’20 valued the efficiency of the graduation, explaining, “I’ve heard the graduations can run kind of long with a lot of speeches.”
Despite the graduation’s length, receiving her diploma from Temple and hearing her name announced on the PA system was an experience she had been looking forward to “since freshman year,” said Moreno.
For Caitlin Cummings ‘20, the graduation was her last time to appreciate and say goodbye to Temple, her advisor. The graduation was a “good way to close off our relationship,” she said, “and recognize that I am moving on.”
The festivities continued beyond the official ceremony for many graduates. In the Cow Palace parking lot, which was overlooked by a billboard displaying messages such as “Go Tigers” and “Congratulations Graduating Class of 2020,” graduates found ways to say their goodbyes and celebrate with classmates. In spite of intermittent rain, some students took socially-distanced photos while others had conversations with classmates they hadn’t seen since March.
Admitting that she had low hopes at the beginning, Hylton explained that the highlight of her graduation experience was actually in the Cow Palace parking lot after the ceremony. After other students received their diplomas and exited the venue, groups of other graduates cheered for their peers, fostering a deeper sense of community.
Moreno expressed similar sentiments. “I felt much more celebrated and much more part of a community event than I thought I would because I saw some of my peers outside their cars taking pictures.”
Though this socially distanced celebration was definitely different, graduates appreciated the work administrators put in to make the graduation as positive an experience as possible.
“Lick did a great job trying to make the experience as normal as possible for us,” Cummings said.
“It is nice that Lick is doing something not virtual,” Hylton added, noting that the drive-through graduation was “more of a celebration.”
Even for families that previously experienced a traditional Lick graduation, a drive through one offered a positive experience. Catherine Wachtler, mother of Sonia Martin ‘16 and Julia Martin ‘20, explained that “in 2016, we got to have [family and cousins] there with us at the auditorium, but what was great this time around for Julia is that we got to be right with her at the moment she got her diploma.”
In January 2021, during winter break, Lick plans to hold a traditional graduation for Class of 2020 students returning from college. Since some aspects of a traditional graduation could not be replicated at a drive-through one, graduates are hoping that they’ll be able to experience what they missed out on.
“We all had worked so hard and now that we were graduating, we were all supposed to be together,” said Wilson. “I am happy Lick is supposed to have another in-person graduation. I wanted to say goodbye to all the seniors that I probably won’t see again.”
Other graduates also wanted to celebrate with friends who weren’t in their assigned time blocks and share their moments “with [their] teachers … And also extended family members who couldn’t be [there],” Julia Martin said. Moore was only able to share his drive-through graduation experience with his grandparents through FaceTime.
“I wished that I could walk across the stage and look out into the crowd and see my family members, friends and different members of the community sharing the moment with me,” Moreno said.
As a result of the second semester and drive-through graduation that no other Lick graduate had experienced, the Class of 2020 learned lessons to be shared with future Lick graduates.
“Even if you don’t get a giant celebration or party,” said Hylton, “it’s really about completing and feeling satisfaction that you finished.” She encourages students to be proud of their accomplishments rather than focusing on how they are celebrated.
Multiple graduates underscored the importance of community, advising future students to cherish the time they have with classmates and friends. “I would have loved to spend the last three months of school with [my classmates], but I’ve grown to appreciate and love each of them even more because I wasn’t able to see them for such a prolonged period of time,” said Cummings.
Moreno wants students to enjoy every moment of their own graduations and “celebrate it for my class…Do it for us.”
