Stephanie Carrillo Hofmann, a Seguin native, and owner of Bling Qweenz in New Braunfels has created these memorabilia masks for her special friends and family members of the Class of 2020. The masks are just another show of support to those whose senior years were cut short.
Seguin, Navarro share next steps in finalizing potential plans
(Seguin) – With the closing of schools now in order, hearts are, no doubt, with the members of the Senior Class of 2020. This, of course, was the year they had been waiting for. It was their time to shine.
However, after learning the news that Governor Greg Abbott had ordered the closing of schools for the remainder of the 2019-2020, local school districts have now been forced to mobilize. Not only do they have to come up with a plan to help wrap up a shortened and unforgettable school year, but they also must help answer the question, “what about graduation?”
Seguin ISD Superintendent Matthew Gutierrez says his heart goes out to the seniors and their families who were looking forward to this special time in their lives.
With the construction of the new Matador Stadium, seniors were already going to experience a change in tradition by having graduation at Texas State University. But of course, amid social distancing, having a large event cannot happen at least not anytime soon.
Gutierrez says despite all that has evolved over the last couple of months, the Seguin ISD is committed more than ever of finding the best solution possible for this batch of deserving students.
“It feels like the rug was just yanked from under them and all of these special moments are not there. As far as graduation, we had started to outline some preliminary options as far as what we could (do) to avoid going a virtual route. We really wanted a live, in person event. Now, what I do want the community to know is to please be patient. We are told that the education commissioner is going to talk about graduation with superintendents (this week) so we will learn more. It may be more directive and it may come down and say that ‘school districts will need to do this for graduation’ or they may give us some flexibility so right now, our plans are on hold until we can hear from the education commissioner and again, we want to do everything we can within the limits to still make sure that this occasion is special and so we are keeping that in mind,” said Gutierrez.
Navarro ISD Superintendent Dee Carter says she too is disappointed for the group of seniors. She says each student deserves the recognition that has been earned.
‘I’m heartbroken for our seniors. Twenty years from now, they will look back, I hope, and be able to laugh and say ‘woah, what a senior year that was. That was one for the history books.’ And it is, but right now, it really hurts and it is very sad that our seniors can’t have all of the banquets and all of the recognition events and all of the fun that seniors normally have during the spring semester of their senior year. So, I feel just really, awful about that. We are going to do the best we can to provide for the recognition that our seniors have earned over the years and over the course of this year,” said Carter.
Like Seguin and other districts, the Navarro ISD this week will also be working to come up with a plan to honor its seniors.
“We will include some contact with some of our senior students to see how they might like to see that unfold the best. There are different ideas about how to go about it and we will be talking with parents, and students and staff beginning (this week) and we of course, will be listening to the commissioner as well. So, we will be making those plans and letting people know how that is going to unfold. We had several parents who have already volunteered to help with any digital work that we might do for an academic banquet kind of thing online or how we might work with a semblance of a graduation ceremony so we will be working to make those plans over the next couple of weeks and letting those be known once we get them in place,” said Carter.
The community has also begun to look around the nation to see what others are doing to support their seniors amid the COVID-19 pandemic. While a graduation ceremony is still on the table for many districts, most cannot forget the loss and disappointment of other memorable events such as prom, senior nights, and spring sports. Again, once a graduation plan is outlined for each respective school district, officials say those plans will be announced to senior families as soon as possible.