CAMERON, Oklahoma — Many schools had to adjust to a virtual graduation or cancel the event altogether.
Cameron High School officials made the decision to wait until they felt it was safe to have a socially distanced, in-person graduation ceremony for seniors.
“None of us thought that we would have a graduation,” said Hannah McCormack, class Historian.
People sat in lawn chairs at the baseball field Friday (June 12) to honor the senior graduates.
“We’re all glad that we’re not getting one of those virtual graduations at the theater,” McCormack said.
Masks were not required because of the social distancing and some graduates got to have large groups of family members there to support them.
Past graduations have taken place inside with air conditioning.
“Even if it is really hot outside we’re all happy to be here,” McCormack said.
Cameron Schools Superintendent John Long says the decision to have an in-person graduation took a month of waiting to see COVID-19 statistics.
“Let’s wait till June then let’s see what’s going on and maybe things open up some and we can have an in-person graduation for our kids,” Long said.
McCormack presented a speech during the ceremony and says all of the students were surprised to have an in-person ceremony.
Long says the graduation was able to happen thanks to the help of the state superintendent and the Cameron community.
“With her guidance in our local school boards and the parents, we made it through,” Long said.
The senior class was made up of 30 students and the graduation had a couple of hundred people in attendance.