Despite school closings because of COVID-19 restrictions, Fort Jackson senior high school students will still celebrate their educational milestone with the traditional graduation ceremony albeit with some adjustments.
“Adjustments to the pandemic have enabled our students to become more resilient,” said Fred Henley, Fort Jackson School Liaison. “While it’s common for military connected students to deal with multiple moves and deployments, the pandemic increased their ability to adjust, adapt, and overcome obstacles.”
Fort Jackson has military-connected students dispersed in six school districts, with the majority of its students attending Richland County District One or Richland County District Two schools.
Richland Two School District established a task force to come up with a recommendation for high school graduations for the Class of 2020. The task force included school administrators, student representatives from all five high schools, district administrators and representation from Fort Jackson – Lt. Col. Jason Pieri, Army Training Center’s assistant chief of staff for operations, or G3.
Richland Two Superintendent Dr. Baron R. Davis said in a letter that “these graduation ceremonies will look very different from those in the past, but they will certainly reflect the resiliency of the Class of 2020 and provide a meaningful tribute to our seniors.”
Pieri voiced confidence in the district’s ability to keep students healthy during the events.
“I’m confident Richland Two will be able to both hold graduations and keep students, Families, and staff safe,” Pieri said.
Richland Two will hold its high school graduation ceremonies at 8 a.m., June 1-5 at Harry Parone Stadium located at 120 Sparkleberry Lane, Columbia, S.C. 29229. Social distancing practices will be observed and each graduate will be permitted two guests. Graduation ceremonies will be streamed live at: https://livestream.com/richland2.
Richland Two’s high school graduation ceremonies will be held as follows:
Monday, June 1 - Spring Valley
Tuesday, June 2 - Richland Northeast
Wednesday, June 3 - Blythewood
Thursday, June 4 - Westwood
Friday, June 5 - Ridge View
Richland One will hold its high school graduation ceremonies June 2-5 at the district’s football stadiums. Rain dates, if needed, will be June 8-9. Social distancing practices will be observed and each graduate will be permitted two guests. Graduation ceremonies will be streamed live at www.richlandone.org.
Richland One’s high school graduation ceremonies will be held as follows:
Tuesday, June 2 – The Stadium at Lower Richland
• Lower Richland High School – 8 a.m.
• Richland One Middle College – 11 a.m.
Wednesday, June 3 – Memorial Stadium
• Dreher High School – 8 a.m.
• A.C. Flora High School – 11 a.m.
Thursday, June 4 – Bolden Stadium
• C.A. Johnson High School – 8 a.m.
• Columbia High School – 11 a.m.
Friday, June 5 – The Stadium at W.J. Keenan
• W.J. Keenan High School – 8 a.m.
• Eau Claire High School – 11 a.m.
For more information about upcoming senior high school graduation schedules, go to the websites of: Kershaw County Schools, Lexington School District Two, Lexington School District Three, Lexington School District Four, Lex-Rich School District Five and Sumter School District.