Commencement 2020

COMMENCEMENT 2020 A Graduation Like No Other

Commencement could not be held at school since Penn Charter's campus closed last spring because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The 112 members of the Class of 2020 graduated on Saturday, June 6, in a one-of-a-kind, virtual and prerecorded ceremony streamed online to the graduates and hundreds of their family and friends.

“You have been and are a remarkable class,” Head of School Darryl J. Ford said in remarks he recorded earlier in the week from PC's back patio, the traditional setting of PC Commencement.

Ford listed the academic, artistic, athletic and service achievements of the class and acknowledged that the graduation was occurring as the country was experiencing not only the pandemic but social protest from coast to coast.

COMMENCEMENT SPEAKERS

Selected by their classmates and teachers to reflect on their PC experience and look to the future. View at penncharter.com/opc2020.

Akeel Blake begins at 12:21 Noah Evans begins at 16:34 Vanessa Ewing begins at 20:20

On the afternoon of Commencement and the day after, students and their families were invited to campus for a socially-distant diploma pickup and family photo op. A contingent of faculty and staff were on hand to cheer as graduates picked up their diplomas—and a yellow rose for the girls—and posed for portraits.

“Beyond these accolades, here is the most important thing for you to know,” Ford said. “After this pandemic and social unrest resolve, you still will be a class of remarkable achievement. The hope that all of your parents felt the day you were born and the hope and promise that your teachers felt on your first day of kindergarten at PC, or whenever you first came to our school, is the hope that your families and faculty place in you to mend the world.”

Theodore Cavanagh received the Phi Beta Kappa Award for achievement in scholarship.

Jalynn Johnson received the Senior Award, presented by Alumni Society President Rob Frieman OPC '87. The finalists for the award were also honored: Sarah Foley, Anastasia Lewis and Madelynn Solow. The Senior Award is presented to a member of the senior class who on qualification of scholarship, character, leadership and athletic ability exemplifies the best Penn Charter type.

The 90-minute, prerecorded graduation celebration—livestreamed at 10:30 a.m. on the day and now archived online at penncharter.com/opc2020—includes musical performances, student-produced videos and photo montages, and seven heartfelt messages from teachers in Lower, Middle and Upper School. PC Congratulations to the Class of 2020!

Theodore Cavanagh (Yale University) won the Phi Beta Kappa Award for achievement in scholarship.

Senior Class President Patrick Cannon (Colgate University), delivering his remarks from the bell tower in a cap and gown and shorts. The Alumni Society bestowed Jalynn Johnson (University of Pittsburgh) its Senior Award in recognition of her scholarship, character, leadership and athletic ability.