Graduation looking a little closer to normal this year for area schools

MINOT, N.D. – With COVID-19 cases way down, many area schools are planning for high school graduations that will look a lot closer to normal than they did last year at this time.

Minot High School principal Scott Faul said the Minot High School graduation on May 30 will still have limited capacity but there will be more people in the audience this year. The graduation will be held at the Minot State University Dome as is traditional, unlike last spring when graduation was held at the North Dakota State Fairgrounds with assigned seating allotted to the crowd – four guests per student – and students seated apart in the grandstand. This year each student will be able to invite eight guests. More tickets will likely be available via a lottery that will be drawn toward the end of May. Faul said some students have said they don’t plan to participate in the graduation ceremony this year, so more tickets could be available.

The mask mandate has continued in the Minot Public Schools and could continue when classes resume in the fall, even though COVID-19 numbers are also way down for students, teachers and staff in the schools. Faul said contact tracing could be difficult if the mask requirement is lifted but the State Health Department doesn’t change its guidance on quarantining. A number of teachers and students had to be quarantined last fall after they were exposed to someone who had tested positive for COVID-19. Gov. Doug Burgum then ordered that quarantine would not be necessary if both the person who tested positive for COVID-19 and the people who had been exposed had been wearing masks at all times.

Faul said students and teachers at Minot High have been very good about wearing masks. They do not want to miss out on school or on activities like the upcoming graduation.

The school prom was held April 10, with masks required, though kids were able to take them down when they went through the Grand March. Families who came to see the kids in the Grand March were asked to leave right after the students they were there to see had been announced and marched through. It was a fun time, said Faul.

Submitted Photo South Prairie High School students prepare the school gymnasium for the prom, which was scheduled to be held tonight. The prom will be limited to juniors and seniors due to COVID-19. The school board recently voted to make masks optional.

Savannah Field, a senior at Minot High who plans to attend Minot State University in the fall and major in elementary education, said students have gotten used to wearing masks and social distancing policies.

She and classmates Ashton Hillman and Carter Thomas all said they are grateful they got to have their senior year together and to have classes and school activities face-to-face.

Chelsey Raymond, the principal at Nedrose High School, said Nedrose is currently planning an in-person graduation for the 31 graduating seniors, though no concrete plans had been made as of Thursday. They had the option of holding graduation outdoors as they did last year or in the school gymnasium.

The school prom was held as normal earlier this spring, with masks recommended for students but not required. Those attending to watch the students dressed up for prom were required to wear masks per the district’s guidelines.

Nedrose seniors Megan Sutter, Nick Kalamaha and Damian Emly all said they are glad they have had the opportunity to attend classes face-to-face instead of only online or a few days a week as in some other states.

Sutter, who plans to major in nursing at the University of Mary in Bismarck this fall, said students are willing to follow the mask mandate for the rest of the year because they don’t want to risk having an outbreak of COVID-19 that derails plans for a normal graduation.

Kalamaha, who plans to attend the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks this fall, said he believes that masks will be required for college students there this fall. Masks were required when he toured the campus a few months ago.

Emly, who plans to attend Bismarck State College this fall to study water and waste water technology, said BSC hasn’t sent out any material about its COVID-19 policy for the fall but he assumes masks could be required.

Students over age 16 are eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, but they said they haven’t heard yet of colleges requiring the vaccine to attend. Like adults, area seniors are making up their minds about whether to get the vaccine. Some have received it or plan to receive it and others say they don’t plan to be vaccinated.

Mask policies also vary at some schools.

The South Prairie School District has now made masks optional for students and teachers, said principal Darwin Routledge.

The school board made that decision at its most recent meeting. After a “rough spot in October,” COVID-19 cases went way down or became non-existent and most teachers and staff have had the opportunity to be vaccinated. They have not had to do any contact tracing recently to track down students or teachers who have been exposed to someone who tested positive for COVID-19.

Routledge said there will still be some precautions at school events. Prom was to be held today but is being limited to juniors and seniors. Only 12 or 13 couples plan to attend.

“It will be much smaller than normal,” said Routledge, but it will still be another step toward normalcy for students who have had to miss out on some milestones for the last year.

School graduation for the 24 seniors will probably be held with some precautions but with more people than were able to attend last year.

Some of the seniors in the class are happy with the end of the mask policy.

“I’m a big supporter of everything getting back to normal,” said senior Kaden Korgel, who said COVID-19 in the school seems pretty much gone and he believes that the school has handled the situation this year well. Students have been able to compete in extracurriculars and will enjoy events like the prom and graduation.

Korgel said one positive change for graduation is the option to stream it online so that friends and relatives who aren’t able to attend will still be able see the seniors graduate.

Korgel plans to attend the North Dakota State College of Science in Wahpeton this fall and study ag business and animal science.

“I think everybody is pretty happy because everyone in our school is pretty much anti mask,” said Braden Anderson, a senior at South Prairie, who also said the small size of the school and the low number of cases means it makes sense to make masks optional.

Anderson, who plans to attend North Dakota State University in Fargo and major in construction engineering, also predicted a return to more normal living come fall.

Graduation looking a little closer to normal this year for area schools

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