FALL RIVER — B.M.C. Durfee High School seniors are willing to practice delayed gratification.
Given the graduation options of a hybrid ceremony on the original date of June 5 or what should be far closer to a conventional ceremony after July 19, the Hilltopper Class of 2020 voted strongly in favor of the summer option.
“I’m pleased,” Durfee Principal Matthew Desmarais said Thursday morning. “I can’t give them everything back, but we can give them this. It’s our duty to the students.”
Students in Massachusetts have been banned from their school buildings since late mid-March.
When Gov. Charlie Baker’s four-phased reopening plan was announced, Desmarais said the wording concerning graduations was “vague,” so the school department started to plan for a June 5 “hybrid graduation,” which would have had graduates drive or be driven to Durfee, briefly leave the vehicle to walk across the stage and receive a diploma, and then return to the vehicle to exit school property. The event, running perhaps six hours, would have been broadcast online.
Last Friday, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education announced schools could stage outdoor graduations after July 19. Some Durfee students quickly made their preference for the summer graduation known, and Desmarais on Tuesday put it to a ballot. Using student email and Google Forms, he polled the approximately 470 members of the Class of 2020.
The vote totals were 78 percent in favor of in-person graduation. Desmarais said voter turnout was about 65 percent.
Desmarais said the June 5 hybrid option was “an honest effort” for seniors who had already missed out on so much. “We didn’t want another thing taken away from them. I’m happy the students want to get together.”
Noting that there is considerable brainstorming to be done in terms of date, time and safety compliance, Desmarais said he expects to have the new graduation details worked out by early next week.
Seniors at Fall River’s Resiliency Preparatory Academy also voted to postpone their graduation, Desmarais said.
Here are how a few Durfee seniors voted, and why:
KIRK ROWE
“I voted towards having graduation outdoors. I did so because having a virtual graduation wouldn't feel the same as actually being there in person.”
ANDREW SAUNDERS
“I voted for after July 19th and the reason being is I would like my senior year to end with a graduation as close to normal as possible. We have waited thirteen years for this moment and I want it to be special, something that I will always remember and a chance to be with my high school friends on the Durfee campus one more time.”
JULIA KELLY
“I voted for after July 19. I thought that if we waited and had a hybrid graduation anyways, we didn’t lose anything, whereas if we just stuck to June 5, we would be missing out on the possibility of having the opportunity to have a graduation which resembled some normalcy.”
MELIA BOURAMIA
“After receiving the call about the idea of possibly having our graduation after July 19th in person I was overjoyed. We have a chance of getting a graduation the seniors deserve. I instantly voted for after July 19 because it wouldn't be the same if we continued to have our ceremony virtually and I want to be able to see all my friends and peers graduate along with me, but six-feet apart of course.”
ANONYMOUS
“June 5. I chose it because I want to be done with high school. I’m ready for it to be officially over and not drag it out to when I’m almost in college.”
NELSON DeCARVALHO
“I voted for graduation after July 19th for one last celebration with my high school friends. We all expected to have our last everything together: last spring sports season, prom, graduation, everything. Four long, challenging years of high school shouldn’t be rewarded with some kind of online ceremony. We seniors deserve to feel the excitement, the rush and the anxiousness to walk across the stage and shake our principal’s hand. On top of that, we never got the proper goodbye we would’ve gotten from our friends and teachers and we deserve that, too.”
ADRIANA FERNANDEZ
"I’m grateful that Durfee gave us a chance to have a say on our graduation so I decided to vote for an in person graduation after July 19th because I wanted it to be as close to what it was supposed to be. When they announced that we were doing the hybrid graduation on June 5th I was upset just because I knew it wasn’t going to feel the same. Luckily now that we are going to have an in person graduation I know that even though it will still be different, I’m hoping it will look more like the graduation I have envisioned since I was a freshman."
TOM PANCHLEY
"Due to the coronavirus our shortened senior year has caused us to lose out on some great memories that could’ve been made. Our last memory at Durfee was going to school on a half day in March which most seniors skipped or left early thinking we would be returning in 3 weeks. With Baker’s recent announcement I believe that pushing back the graduation provides the class of 2020 a great opportunity to graduate together and bring some sense of normalcy and closure to the ending of our high school years."
Email Greg Sullivan at gsullivan@heraldnews.com. Follow him @GregSullivanHN.