By Meghan Pierce

Granite State News Collaborative

With the COVID-19 outbreak preventing gatherings of any kind colleges and universities across New Hampshire have begun announcing the postponement of commencement ceremonies, with many high schools taking a wait and see approach.

Keene State College said in a Facebook post on Monday that commencement has been moved to the fall.

“Class of 2020: You deserve to be celebrated. Your loved ones deserve to share your achievements. Your professors deserve to see how far you've come. We are proud of you and we will celebrate Commencement on October 3, 2020, during Alumni Reunion Weekend,” the announcement said.

When University of New Hampshire President James W. Dean Jr. said in an announcement late last month that graduation would not take place in May as planned, he also said a virtual graduation would not do. 

“We recognize what an enormous disruption this has been to your lives and I am so sorry that this has happened to you. We also understand that commencement is a really important ritual for students and universities, a time to honor and to celebrate your time at UNH. We’ve heard you loud and clear that you don’t want us to cancel commencement and you don’t want some kind of virtual commencement. So while we’re not going to be able to hold honors and commencement as we normally do in May we’re looking at various options to postpone them on a later date when we’re on the other side of COVID and we can gather again in person to properly celebrate you as you deserve,” Dean said.

Dartmouth College President Philip J. Hanlon came out Thursday with the news that Dartmouth too would be rescheduling commencement and that college officials are considering postponing the event a whole year.

“To the Class of 2020, make no mistake: You will have your day. And that day will be filled with all the pomp and circumstance you so rightly deserve. Vice President of Alumni Relations Cheryl Bascomb has been working diligently with student representatives and colleagues across campus to look at alternative dates for the Class of 2020's commencement. They recommend that we reschedule the ceremony for June 2021,” Hanlon said in his announcement. “We will be consulting with members of the senior class to determine the ideal date and program. We expect to lock in the specific date by the end of next month, so that students and families can have a full year to plan and make the necessary travel arrangements. Graduate and professional school investiture ceremonies will also be rescheduled for appropriate dates to be determined by the school deans.”

However, Hanlon added, degrees will be conferred in a virtual ceremony in June. “Importantly, the postponement of our commencement and investiture ceremonies will in no way delay the conferring of earned degrees in June for our graduates. On June 14 of this year, we will host a virtual event to mark the awarding of both undergraduate and advanced degrees. Details on that special online gathering will be forthcoming in the next few weeks.”

Perhaps because high schools are not dealing with the travel issues college students would face returning to their campuses for commencement New Hampshire high schools seem to be giving the situation a little more time.

“Right now, no plans are cast in stone until the Governor decides if we are going back or not after May 4th,” an official from Memorial High in Manchester said in an email Friday. “We do have backup July dates for graduation, the prom, and our Top 10 dinner. I'm guessing there will also be a Class Day event as well for our seniors. However, everything could be canceled if the pandemic continues into the fall.”

Keene High School has also not yet made a decision on whether graduation will go forward as planned this spring. 

Portsmouth High School principal Mary D. Lyons said earlier this week that so far nothing has been changed, but school officials think it is time to talk about the different options if school doesn’t resume May 4.

“Right now it’s still scheduled to go on June 5,” Lyons said. “The plan A is to have graduation when we are supposed to.”

Lyons, however, has been in contact with the senior class members of the school council, who have in turn been in talks with fellow senior class members to get a sense of how the seniors would like to proceed.

“The students really want to come together as a class even if it means spread out,” Lyons said, such an outdoor/field graduation where attendees can observe social distancing or perhaps a parade type drive through the community by the seniors.

“What’s important is that they have closure even if it’s socially distanced,” Lyons said. “One of the alternative plans is holding it farther out into the summer if possible.”

If the date is pushed out graduation would have to take place before July 31 to accommodate seniors leaving for college.

While other aspects of seniors year, such as the yearbook dedication or class speeches, could take place online, the senior class members Lyons has heard from said the class does not want a virtual graduation. Additionally, there is no way to reinvent prom virtually, she said. So there have been talks about holding prom on a later date, perhaps outdoors.

“The most important thing is we bring closure to their senior year and do something. And it all depends on what happens over the next few weeks and we don’t know,” Lyons said.

Ella McCullough, 18, of Peterborough, a senior at ConVal High School in Peterborough said she has been receiving regular updates from her school with regards to remote learning or scholarship deadlines, but nothing so far about graduation.

“I think they are trying to instill a sense that everything is going normally,” McCullough said. “Which feels kinds of weird, I wish they would give us more information. It’s much weirder that they haven’t been communicating (about graduation).”

ConVal graduation is scheduled to take place on June 13.

“They had had it set. I don’t know if it’s going to be changed in any way,” she said. “Right now the way they are acting, they’re hoping they are going to reopen, but looking at how widespread this pandemic has got, it’s pretty bad. I don’t think putting hundreds of students back in a confined space, it doesn’t seem I like it is going to happen.”

McCullough said she has been keeping busy with remote learning and hiking. Sometimes to get out of the house she drives around.

“The last day of school I was supposed to go to Voices of the 603 for a capella. I’m also missing out on the school musical, which sucks cause it’s my senior year, it was going to be my last musical. They are probably going to cancel prom, which sucks, but the safety of others comes first.”

On Friday ConVal School District Superintendent Kimberly Rizzo Saunders said that the only thing she could say at this point is the "ConVal will not be foregoing graduation."

These articles are being shared by partners in The Granite State News Collaborative. For more information visit collaborativenh.org.