‘A Grieving Process’: High School Seniors On Graduating At A Distance

Bennington employee Steve Langlois hangs a banner honoring the Mount Anthony Union High School seniors along Main Street. (Howard Weiss-Tisman/VPR)

The Agency of Education has released its final guidelines for how to hold a graduation ceremony during a pandemic.

High school seniors are now getting a clearer picture of how their schools will mark this once-in-a-lifetime achievement during a once-in-a-lifetime public health crisis.

The COVID-19 pandemic first interrupted Owen Hansen’s senior year about a week before the cross-country ski team’s end-of-season banquet.

“It was my senior year, and really looking forward to it, just kind of the final goodbye,” Hansen said during a recent interview at Mount Anthony Union High School. “We had states. And everyone was really excited for it. And then we found out that we couldn’t have it, and we’re still kind of trying to figure out what to do. So that was kind of — that was a bummer.”

Read the rest of this story at VPR’s website.