After a year of remote activities, seniors will celebrate their high school accomplishments with an in-person graduation at Rio Americano High School. Senior graduation will take place outside on the baseball fields on the evening of June 3.

The graduation ceremony will begin at 5:30 p.m. on the JV baseball field, which borders the tennis courts. The stage will be set up in the outfield, and chairs will be scattered around the field six feet apart.

Current guidelines situate families in pods, and space separate families from one another. With current restrictions each grad gets two tickets, although this could change. 

To minimize contacts, students may be seated with their parents, but administrators plan on sending out a survey to seniors as to their preferences on some of the logistics of the modified ceremony.

“I have to put a survey together to go out to seniors about what they want for graduation,” said Principal Brian Ginter. “We’ll obviously do the handing out of diplomas, but that’s going to have to look a little different because I don’t know that they will let us do the handshakes.”

Similar to previous years, students will be handed their diploma seal when they walk across the stage and actual diplomas will be available in the gymnasium. Speeches from the class president, principal and others will still be highlights of the graduation, and tryouts for speeches will be in late April.

The typical band performances, however, may be impacted by COVID-19 restrictions.

“We might not be able to have music like we normally do,” Ginter said. “You have to be 12 feet apart when playing music, and they cannot practice together to perform what they need to be ready for graduation.”

More information on graduation and a possible survey for seniors will be sent out in the following weeks, but administrators are excited to celebrate student’s hard work on their home field.