The Diploma Parade

The Colorado Academy campus was filled with joy on the afternoon of Commencement, June 4, 2020. It was also filled with the sounds of car horns, shouted greetings, laughter, and applause, as the Class of 2020 officially graduated at CA’s “Diploma Parade,” demonstrating resilient pomp under the circumstances. Led by newly-retired Director of Security Ed Bleã on his tractor and masterfully executed by Director of Operations Jesse Schumacher and his team, graduates, who had spent the Spring trimester taking remote classes, made their way slowly and safely around campus. Masked faculty and staff lined the parade route and shouted congratulations. The graduates’ final stop was the podium on the Welborn lawn, where they received their diploma from a masked and gloved Head of School Dr. Mike Davis. Earlier in the day, the Class of 2020 attended its Commencement ceremony remotely, with tributes to the students and speeches by Dr. Davis, Board of Trustees Chair David Jones ‘95, and student-elected speaker Holden Ryu ‘20. In a Spring that many graduates would prefer to forget, CA’s first Diploma Parade was a moment they will remember and treasure. Perhaps one family’s sign said it best: “Mustangs set freeeee!” n

You can watch the Diploma Parade at news.coloradoacademy.org/class-of-2020-diploma-parade/.