Caps Off

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CAPS OFF By Lauren Avellino Turton

AS THE OCHS seniors celebrate four years of academic achievements, extracurricular goals, and newfound friendships, they look forward to exploring future career paths, and the next chapters in their lives. Certainly, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, plans for this year’s graduation events look quite different.

The students have been finishing out their year of learning online, and thanks to the planning of school administrators, teachers, parents, friends, and classmates, they are ready to don their caps and gowns, and experience the much-anticipated pomp and circumstance they’ve hoped for, and surely deserve.

Senior Mary Jamison said the second semester has been a drastic change from what she’s experienced the last four years at OCHS.

“The quarantine was an adjustment for all of us, but our school

and community has been so supportive making the change easier,” added Jamison. “The school has done a great job at recognizing the seniors in the safest ways possible. It’s difficult to meet our expectations of what senior year should’ve been like, but luckily we’ve been blessed with the creative alternatives to the regular celebrations of senior year. It’s unique, and will be memorable for years to come!”

Monday, May 18 marked the official kick off of the Class of 2020 celebrations. Seniors were invited to the school to pick up their cap and gown, honors cords, National Honors Society stole, graduation instructions, Class of 2020 lawn sign and tee shirt.

“A special note, the senior shirt was provided by the Teacher’s Association, and the lawn sign was provided by the Ocean City Education Foundation,” commented OCHS Principal Matthew Jamison, Ed.D. “The seniors are invited

to submit a picture of themselves wearing their cap and gown to be included in a Graduation 2020 montage.”

Wednesday, May 27 was a very momentous day for the seniors, as they were given the chance to walk the “prom red carpet” for a limited viewing by family and school staff. Students dazzled in beautiful gowns and handsome suits, while donning the most popular accessory, the OCHS mask.

The first week in June, seniors and their families are invited to the school to take cap and gown photos at the “OCHS” garden stadium sign. The traditional “Farewell” sign will be available for photos too.

“Due to social distancing guidelines and mandates, a schedule has been developed and posted for those that choose to participate,” added Principal Jamison.

A virtual scholarship and senior awards gala is in the works for the beginning of June as well. Students and their families will be able to view and download the ceremony.

Then, the big day arrives - The Commencement Ceremony 2020!

Dr. Kathleen Taylor, Ed.D., the district’s Superintendent, said

the school is beyond thrilled with Governor Phil Murphy’s recent decision to allow on-site graduation events to take place throughout the state of New Jersey. Initially, OCHS was developing a virtual commencement, however they can now hold a stadium event.

“We have set the date for the Ocean City High School graduation to be held on Wednesday July 7, at Carey Stadium in the morning. This time honored tradition is a true rite of passage for our Ocean City School District graduates and their families, and we are excited to be able to move forward and finalize plans for this event to take place on our school grounds,” said Dr. Taylor. “The Board of Education, administration, and staff are committed to following all guidelines provided by both state and local officials to ensure the safety for all staff, students and families involved. Additional details will be forthcoming following the release of guidelines from the NJ Department of Education.”

There’s also an informal goodbye being planned if state guidelines permit.

“We plan to host a senior barbecue in the stadium courtyard where seniors can sign yearbooks, receive and return ancillary items, and if the diplomas weren’t yet distributed, distribute diplomas. We believe a personal awarding of the diplomas will be meaningful to our seniors. We anticipate mid to late June,” said Principal Jamison.

Senior Tommy Piernikowski said he’s quite pleased with all that the high school has done for the students.

“The school district has had our best interests in mind from the start, and has worked hard to still provide us with fun events while doing so in a safe way,” he said. “They’ve made the appropriate decisions in terms of balancing tradition, and keeping us healthy.”

Piernikowski is headed to Boston University to study linguistics and anthropology, and will certainly remember this commencement in his college years, and years to come.

“These times have been unique for everyone, and despite all of the bad news, we have seen the best in a lot of people,” he added. “Communities have come together to support those that need it the most. In my opinion, Ocean City High School’s administration has done just that for us graduating seniors.”

As for his classmate, Mary Jamison, she’s going to attend Stockton University as a health and science major, with hopes of becoming a nurse one day. Nurses, of course, are honored as the nation’s frontline heroes during the pandemic.

“I stand with our students and families during this time of challenge,” said Jamison. “During the COVID-19 shutdown, our students and families showed a special resiliency that can only be described as ‘Raider Nation Strong!’”

Shannon Fuller is a mom. Yes, she’s also a teacher, a wife, a friend, and much more… but one look at her social media and mom is the first word that might come to your mind. I’ve known Shannon for about 10 years since she taught my children at Trinity Preschool in Marmora. We’ve stayed friends… and I’ve followed her journey with her daughter McKenna this year as she spent hours on the road scoping out potential colleges, lived through the ups and downs of senior year, and most recently dealt with the fallout from the COVID crisis and how it’s impacted McKenna’s prom and graduation ceremonies. I chatted with Shannon in the last week of May. Here is her story.

We decided we needed to do something on Saturday night, just a few days after OCHS told us about the Red Carpet event. We were instructed we couldn’t get out of our cars, just drive up, let the senior out, (one senior per car, wearing masks), they get their name called, they walk across the street, on a red carpet and get back in the car and drive away. So we went into “Mom Mode” and said we need to do something more. Some kids didn’t have dresses, some weren’t altered, some were still at the seamstress. Some didn’t have shoes, couldn’t get hair done, and the boys? Well no one is going to rent a tux for a four-second walk where parents couldn’t take a real picture.

When we pulled up and they asked if Kenna had her mask I lost it emotionally. It shouldn’t be this way for these kids. This isn’t how we wanted them to remember their Senior Prom. So we made it memorable. We made our own prom with a big backyard, rented a dance floor and kept it to the “25 outside” max.

Three other moms and me. We still call ourselves the “Crazy Daisies” Betsy Heraux, Kim Pettit, and Ellen McGonigle. Just like that, we began our own prom committee.

She didn’t have shoes to wear. Her dream was sparkly silver shoes. But the world shut down the weekend after we bought her dress. She said, “Well, I could wear your docs.” My heart leapt! They were my white wedding Doc Martins, 22 years old. And she even glued rhinestones on them like I did for my wedding, because of Paul Simon’s line, ‘She’s got diamonds on the soles of her shoes.'