Cd’A Charter to conduct drive-in commencement for grads

Diplomas will be served up fresh with a side of celebration for the seniors of Coeur d'Alene Charter Academy.

School leaders hatched a plan for a drive-in commencement ceremony at the end of the school year, an innovative way to recognize their graduates while still maintaining safety protocols under coronavirus guidelines.

"I absolutely love it," Charter ASB President Carson Benzinger said Friday. "To be honest, a lot of us were really disappointed that we really wouldn't have any type of ceremony for our graduation. When they proposed this to us, we were grateful to receive anything to celebrate our hard work at Charter Academy."

Many students have been feeling deflated since the COVID-19 pandemic closed schools and left high school senior activities up in the air, meaning maybe no commencement and probably no prom. A drive-in ceremony helps mend those wounded hearts, Benzinger said.

"To have an event to celebrate the dedication you've put into your education, it's really heartwarming and really amazing,” he said. “When you love your school so much, graduation is sort of your last hurrah with everybody. I'm grateful I get to have that last moment with my classmates."

Principal Dan Nicklay said the details are being ironed out, but so far the plan is to have students drive to the Kootenai County Fairgrounds to receive their diplomas by means of a school official placing it under the windshield as they drive by or possibly one student at a time crossing a stage.

"We’ll probably find some way to have them come up without a handshake,” h1e said. "We're talking about the possibility of having all the speakers on a screen, and the slideshow where we’ve got pictures of the kids set to music. I think we can still make it pretty special."

The nearly 50 graduating Charter seniors were originally going to graduate on the Lake City High stage on May 29 at 6:30 p.m., a moment senior Delaney Jensen has dreamed about since she started her Charter journey as a sixth-grader.

Jensen said students who make it through all seven years at Charter receive a special cord. She said she overcame her challenges with dyslexia to earn that cord and walk that stage wearing her late grandmother's gown while her grandmother watched over her from above. May 29 was also her grandma's birthday, so it was especially meaningful.

"At first, it hurt to know I won't walk in her dress for this thing I’ve worked seven years for," Delaney said. "This still gives me a chance to be OK, to have that precious moment that everyone wants.”

Nicklay said the ceremony is probably going to take place the same day, but the drive-in plan "leaked" and other schools are most likely going to follow suit, so schedules may change.

"Kids will never forget their high school graduation," Nicklay said. "This is really about our trying to find a way to do something fun and special for them. It's a big deal for us.

"The culminating moment of high school shouldn't be getting their diploma in the mail."