Monsignor McCoy teacher delivers gift bag and diploma for graduating grade 12 student while physical distancing (photo courtesy Monsignor McCoy Facebook)

By Chantal Wagner

class of 2020

Monsignor McCoy celebrates grade 12 graduation this week

May 15, 2020 | 11:35 AM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – The 2020 grad class of Monsignor McCoy High School have been celebrating their accomplishments this week.

Their graduation ceremony was supposed to be on Thursday and Friday.

But with no official ceremony due to public health restrictions, graduation signs with photos of the grads have been put up along the front of the school to mark the special day.

Grads and their families can stop by Friday, May 15 until 3 pm to see the signs and take pictures.

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After the long weekend, grads can pick up the signs at the school to keep.

While physical distancing, teachers also dropped off gift bags for all grads this week which included personalized letters.

This year’s valedictorian is Seth Akins.

Principal Paul Bauche gave him a call this week with the news.

Akins says he misses being with his class.

“Especially because lots of us are going to be starting university from home it looks like what a lot of us are going to be doing, but eventually we’ll be going off to university so I kind of miss that we’re not going to have a final, we’re basically missing our last semester with all of our grad class together.”

Akins has been accepted to UBC in the bachelor of science program. He is looking to major in computer science or math. And hopes he can attend university in-person by the second semester.

With a message for his classmates, he says, “We’re all facing a lot of challenges right now but this isn’t going to last forever. So eventually we will all be able to celebrate our accomplishments together. Just keep going and do what you need to do for now.”

Meantime, principal Bauche says they’re trying to give parents and students as many pictures and moments of their grade 12 year.

“What we’re also hoping and we haven’t got the details down but we want to give an opportunity for grads to come to the school and we’ll try to have a grad backdrop set up that we might typically have at the Cypress Centre for graduation where they can come in their formal wear and get a picture taken again with social distancing in mind where they can hold their grad diploma folder and get a really nice picture for the coffee table like other grads get to have. We’d like them to have that too.”

He says more information is coming and hopes in June they’ll have a couple of days set aside for pictures.

Monsignor McCoy is also planning to still have a graduation ceremony for the class of 2020 in the fall or winter depending on AHS guidelines.