CHARLOTTESVILLE — Gathered in the middle school gymnasium before beginning their graduation walk, Eastern Hancock students clustered together in groups of friends to take selfies, adjust their caps, gowns and masks, and speculate about where they all might be a year from now.
Senior Jaysa Melton and her friends were excited about starting college but knew they’d miss the close-knit environment of Eastern Hancock, where many of them have been together since elementary school.
“Here at Eastern, it’s just such a small school that we’re like a little family,” she said.
EH’s traditional graduation walk during the final week of school was a celebration of that family. Dressed in their graduation regalia on Wednesday, May 26, the senior class took a trip through the halls of the school system’s connected high school, middle school and elementary school while teachers and younger students lined the walls, clapping and cheering in celebration of their achievement.
It’s a tradition Eastern Hancock was able to bring back after taking a year off due to COVID-19 social distancing. Instead of the walk, 2020’s senior class participated in a car parade, waving to well-wishers from a distance.
This year, with masks in place, seniors were able to hug their former teachers and high-five younger students again.
Though they were able to hold in-person graduation events, seniors’ final three semesters of high school were deeply impacted by COVID-19. For some students, the future still looks uncertain as they graduate, although the severity of the global pandemic seems to be lessening.
“It’s kind of hard to believe school’s already coming to pass,” EH valedictorian Nik Uhler said. “I’m sure, for a lot of us, we’re frightened to see what’s to come, but we have to be ready, because it’s kind of the beginning of our lives.”
Senior Abigail Harris said the past year has been a challenging one. She had difficulty adjusting to virtual learning and was happy to get back to attending school in person, and then was frustrated when some of her fellow students neglected to wear masks.
Now, Harris said, she’s happy to be graduating with a good GPA and looking forward to the future.
“This is a pretty small town, so getting out of here and going to Purdue or other big colleges, it’s definitely going to be a culture shock,” she said. “But it’s going to be fun.”
As the seniors made their way through the hallways, many stopped to greet or hug teachers who taught them in earlier grades.
“I think the tradition is great,” fifth-grade teacher Julie Dickmander said. “We get to see them as seniors when we don’t get to see them much. It gives the younger ones role models to look up to, and they get excited about it. It makes me feel old to see my former students graduate, and this isn’t the first class that’s graduated. It is exciting, though; I’m so excited for them, especially with getting to do some of the normal things again with the pandemic.”
This year’s graduation walk was the last one for retiring Superintendent Dave Pfaff, who formerly was the longtime principal of Eastern Hancock High School.
“I’ve got about a month and a half to go, so there’s lots to do,” Pfaff said as he watched seniors go by. “I’m too busy to worry about the last this or last that.”
Third-grade teacher Jamie Lowes said her young students get excited to see the seniors in their caps and gowns; many of the older students have worked with them in mentoring, sports or other extracurricular activities.
“In a small community like we are, we all pretty much know each other,” she said.
Pfaff said the graduation walk is an important tradition that helps the small school corporation come together at the end of the school year. He said walking through the elementary and middle schools and stopping to greet previous teachers helps senior students think about all the help they’ve had over the years.
“It’s recognition for the seniors, but more importantly it’s a message to the younger kids of what the end result looks like,” he said. “There’s probably a little boy in third grade who doesn’t like school, who doesn’t want to get out of bed in the morning, who doesn’t understand ‘why do I have to do this?’ Nine years to a little guy is forever.
“We hope that by seeing these seniors graduate, seeing them in the cap and gown, seeing the boys that they watch play basketball or football or that big boy on the bus — you know how we all were with the other kids, we looked up to them — that helps inspire the younger children to hang in there. We want to them to think ‘I want to be like that someday, I want to make that walk, I want people to clap for me, I want to wear that cap and gown.’”