What’s supposed to be an exciting and joyous year for the class of 2021 has been stripped down to the bare minimum and turned sour. Homecoming was taken away, pep rallies didn’t happen, we weren’t allowed to many sporting events, prom is completely out of the question and graduation has still been under constant debate. The year has been complete craziness and as the class of 2021 nears the end of their high school career most can’t help but feel deflated with the idea of having a very uneventful senior year despite the few updates that have occurred between COVID and the school’s learning environment changes. However, we at The Scout have gotten word from principal Mr. Young that things may be looking up for us seniors. 

While talking to Mr. Young last week we got the inside scoop on what’s going to be happening with graduation and more senior activities that a lot of FHS’s seniors have been asking for lately. It was already known that Graduation is going to be a semi-normal graduation as an email was sent out on March 4, 2021, to all graduating seniors and their families talking about what’s going to be happening with graduation. Here’s what you need to know: 

• Graduation will be held on May 29, 2021, at the Frederick High School Field

• Graduation starts at 10:00 a.m. 

• Social distancing will continue to be practiced. That being said only four household family members will be allowed to sit with their graduate on the field. 

• Graduation will be live-streamed again.

• We are still waiting to get approval to see if we’ll be able to have overflow in the bleachers

“It will look and feel similar to last year’s graduation.” Mr. Young said about the class of 2020’s graduation before continuing to say: 

“But hopefully everyone is a little bit closer together.” Mr. Young then continued to talk about how this way is actually really nice as well because parents loved last year’s graduation while being able to be next to their graduate the whole time and be right by their side the whole way through. 

To add to things Mr. Young also talked to us about possible senior activities that he wants to give the seniors to make up for the crappy year that’s taken over what was supposed to be a fun year. 

“ I am working with booster club right now. We’re planning quite a few things.” Mr. Young said excitedly before continuing to talk to us about some of the ideas that are being planned for this year’s graduating class. 

Some of the ideas mentioned in the interview consisted of: 

A Senior Car Parade: This happened last year and was a huge hit so we decided we would do it again as seniors will be allowed to drive around the neighborhood and get praised and celebrated as a graduating class and as individuals. Sounds like a super fun and exciting thing to be able to experience since most seniors now got to watch the graduating class of 2020 do the same thing last year. 

A Senior Sunset: Just like the senior sunrise that we had held at the beginning of the school year, there has also been talk of a senior sunset being held. If this were to happen it would be super fun as we would all gather on the football field and enjoy the company of each other while enjoying food and watching our senior slideshow as well. Another idea that was mentioned was to possibly combine this along with our senior slideshow into a senior carnival/fair type of event. 

A Carnival/Fair: The idea came as a way to make up for the year of a loss of prom. Although it’s not the prom that everyone has been looking forward to and exciting this idea is also super cool as it would take place at the school (hopefully on the football) but possibly in the school’s gyms (depending on weather) and guidelines. The event would most likely combine our senior sunset and senior slideshow all in one night making it so that we start by watching the sun go down before transferring over to playing some fun games, laughing at memories, making new memories, and enjoying a night with our friends while watching the senior slideshow as well. 

Adopt A Senior: This was the last idea that was presented to us during our interview with Mr. Young and is my personal favorite. The thinking behind it is that every senior (that participates) will be paired up with an underclassman (who participates) and will have a back and forth giveaway. The underclassman will give the senior their paired with something to take with them after high school (whether that’s a card, poster, gift, etc.) and the seniors will be asked to leave the underclassman with some words of advice or something that will help them throughout the rest of their journey in high school. 

“It could be a pretty cool tradition that we could start now that could go on forever.” Mr. Young stated while talking to us about the “Adopt A Senior/Senior Buddies” idea. 

All of these ideas sound super fun and super exciting as they all bring something different and can even spark new traditions for future graduating classes as well. It was really exciting to be able to talk to Young and get to see everything that he had in store for this year’s seniors. 

All in all the graduating class of 2021 may have started off poorly as we started off our senior year with a loss of everything that we loved and were looking forward to. However, after now knowing that there are things planned to make our senior year better and even a somewhat normal graduation planned as well I can say that I for one am super excited to see what’s going to happen with the rest of this school year. We can’t lose hope yet there is still plenty of time and hope for our senior year to be turned around and for all of us to end our final year on a high note.