Community parade, ‘faux’ ceremony held
O’Neill High School’s Class of 2020 had virtual ceremonies; signs, T-shirts, awards and treats delivered to them; a virtual graduation ceremony; and an ‘honor walk’, where each student had the opportunity to collect their diploma in an individual traditional ceremony/photo shoot as their family looked on.
Then, on Friday, June 26, class members were also invited to participate in a closing event — a car parade and gathering at Roe Park. That was hosted by Mayor Joe D’Onofrio, and coordinated by the PTSC.
The parade featured about 65 vehicles — each graduate was driven by their family from Roe Park to Thayer Gate (via West Point Highway) and then back to the park via Main St. Like at most parades in Highland Falls there were small groups of people lining the streets, cheering on the graduates. They were poking out of sunroofs, in the backs of pickup trucks, sitting in convertibles and hanging out the windows of cars.
Back at the park, they enjoyed something of a ‘faux’ graduation, with music, speeches, the recogniction of senior superlatives and a reading of each graduate’s name. As those names were called, the students stood (they were sitting in chairs placed six feet apart) and were recognized by their peers, as well as dozens of families who lined the fence outside the park.
In their speeches Julia Hajjar, Rex Young, Courtney Foster, Emily Boylan, Asher Spain and Jacob Woodruff thanked all who put the event together. They also paid tribute to teacher Chris Page, who died in a 2018 car accident, and reflected on how they are “making history” via their unique close of the school year.
“I am so proud of us for making the best of all this,” Foster said.
The students closed the event with a not-so-traditional tradition … instead of tossing their graduation caps into the air, they tossed rolls of toilet paper, defying the early pandemic toilet paper shortage that gripped much of the United States.
