Northern Cass Hosts Graduation In-Person Without Mandating Face Masks
Every graduating senior attended the ceremony.
HUNTER, N.D. — All 37 graduating seniors at Northern Cass in Hunter took the final walk of their high school careers.
However, at this graduation, you can see plenty of smiling faces in the crowds and on the students as masks were not mandated beyond passing a four question health screening forum.
The questions include asking if they had excessive coughing and sneezing or felt sick and had a fever in the last 10 days.
No temperature checks were taken.
“We had to have parents enter at different times so it’s scheduled times to come into the building we had to make sure the families were only scattered in the bleachers.
Staff also assigned designated entry and exits points for seniors and families to leave the building.
Superintendent Cory Steiner says having a class size of under 40 helped in the decision to allow students to invite up to 4 people to watch in the bleachers.
“A big thing is our students told us they wanted a ceremony together not smaller ceremonies with their friends. This is important for Northern Cass, we serve multiple communities and we need a way to bring people together.”
Class Valedictorian Brooke Degerness says being to see all of her classmates and community one more time in one building is an amazing experience to finish her high school career.
“I did not think that I would have the chance to give my speech to my friends, so it’s not everything we never got everything we wanted. But this is more than enough for me. I am so grateful.”
Steiner says students were required to wear gloves during the ceremony, but left masks as a voluntary option because he feels students and families should have the right to make their own choice.
Every graduating senior attended the ceremony.
“I think there is something very special about the fact that nobody even questioned the fact if they wanted to be here. They did want to be here. They know that there is a risk but they also know that closure is an important thing during these times.”
