Graduation Friday

Graduation set for Friday night at Bulldog Stadium

HHS Graduation will be held outdoors at Bulldog Stadium for the first time in the school’s known history. If a graduation exercise was held outdoors in Howe, it would have been sometime between 1908-1937 but no such event has been found on record. The stadium came into existence in 1935.

Due to state guidelines, graduates are only allowed five guests per graduate. Social distancing must be practiced by all graduates and all others attending graduation. The ISD decided to move the date up from June to late May in case of a sudden spike in the COVID-19 disease which would further delay such an event.

With the outdoor ceremony, there will be many protocols which include a screening of attendees of the ceremony by school employees. The screening involves asking the question of whether the attendee has any of the known symptoms. Hand sanitizer will be available at the entrance. Graduates will be kept six feet apart and the exception is that families can be seated clustered in a group. Each graduate can have seven tickets which will have five in a group and two in a group. The school will have assigned seats to help spread out the attendees.

In a typical graduation setting, board members hand out the diplomas with a handshake, however, this year there will be limited contact with no handshaking. Superintendent Kevin Wilson and Board Member Brad Anderson will, however, be allowed to give their graduating daughters a hug as they accept their diploma.

If anyone wants to wear a mask, they will be able to, but there is no requirement to do so at the outdoor event. There will be less than 500 people in the home west side bleachers at Bulldog Stadium where the total capacity is approximately 1,800 which is within the guidelines required. Staff and students will be on the field.

The stage will be located on the field at approximately the 30yard line and the look will be similar to the traditional indoor look at the gymnasium.

The start time on Friday will be 8 pm. It was considered to be held in the morning, but the home bleachers facing the early morning sun was the deciding factor to move it to 8 pm.

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