With the school year coming to the end, that means graduation is right around the corner and this year’s graduation may look different than last year’s.

Last May, the school year came to the end earlier than normal due to COVID-19, causing virtual graduation and regular in-person graduation to be postponed. 2020 graduates had to wait a little bit longer to have their special celebration, and they had their graduation outdoors at Howard Wood Field. This year’s graduation is at the normal date and in-person, but there are still some protocols to keep all guests safe.

Before COVID-19, back in 2019, the graduation ceremony took place at the Sioux Falls Convention Center having as many guests as the venue could hold. This year the graduation will still be held at the Sioux Falls Convention Center, but they are limiting attendance to six guests per graduate. They are not passing out tickets to limit the people, but they are expecting each person not to bring more than six guests. They are also live streaming it so if the guests of the graduates felt safer at home, they could still watch their graduate’s graduation. 

All Sioux Falls public schools graduation will take place on Sunday, May 30 at the Sioux Falls Convention Center, but each school will have different times. New Tech’s graduation will begin at 11 a.m., followed by WHS’ at 1 p.m., LHS’ graduation will be at 4 p.m., and RHS’ will end the graduation ceremonies at 7 p.m. In the past after the graduation ceremony,students would come back to LHS and have a senior class party, but due to COVID-19 the senior class party will take place at a different location.

Since the graduation is allowing guests to attend the graduation ceremony, they are expecting all guests to wear masks. They will also have many hand sanitizer stations available for all guests to use. These protocols will help keep the guests safe since it will be a bigger crowd.

With the 2020 school year coming to an end earlier than expected and the 2020 seniors’ graduation being postponed, it will be rewarding for the class of 2021 seniors to have a somewhat normal celebration after a long full year of in-person learning.