LUCAS COUNTY, Ohio — Walking across the stage to accept a diploma, hearing your family cheering; it's truly a beautiful moment.
Despite the coronavirus robbing many graduates of that moment, it doesn't mean school superintendents aren't trying to make it special for students and parents who have been waiting for this day.
Three Toledo area superintendents made an appearance at this week's digital Rotary Club meeting.
Dr. Romulus Durant from Toledo Public Schools, Dr. Adam Fineske from Ottawa Hills and Dr. Kadee Anstadt from Washington Local Schools explained how each of their districts have adapted to teaching from home.
The majority of the questions they took from Rotary members were how the districts are handling graduation days.
Ohio schools have been given leeway for senior class capstones, and are working on making sure the first 3/4 of the year averaged can help the students not only graduate, but go on to college.
All three said the most popular option is to host a digital graduation ceremony, followed by some sort of graduate parade route through the community.
"And it's a sad time. I mean, it seems each week something else gets pulled away from our kids. If it's not a sports season, then it's graduation, then it's prom. It's just all of these rites of passage that we we've all taken for granted over the course of our entire lives and suddenly the rug has been pulled out from underneath them," Anstadt said.
The superintendents all said that once graduation plans are set, they will turn their attention to the next school year starting up in the fall.