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Graduation season is here, with COVID-19 adjustments

Masks and distancing guidelines will be in place at many of the state's high school graduations this year

PORTLAND, Maine — With masks and distancing measures in place, the Deering High School Class of 2021 graduated on Wednesday morning.

The speakers often talking about the challenges associated with these last 15 months.

"It has not been easy the pandemic has turned our world upside down," Deering High School Assistant Principal James Moses said.

"It's an ironic yet optimistic conclusion to the last four years of our lives," Aidan Blum Levine, the school's salutatorian said in his remarks.

Portland Public Schools will be holding three graduation ceremonies this week, providing a limited number of tickets to each graduate as well as live streaming the events. 

Other districts are also adjusting their graduations. Similar to Portland, Bangor students will have an outdoor ceremony with a limited number of tickets and live stream. Parents in Lewiston will watch their kids walk across the stage on the big screen from the comfort of their own cars in a drive-thru ceremony at Auburn Airport. 

While things still are a bit different for graduates, school officials say it's important for the class of 2021 to be together, no matter what it looks like.

"It's not the venue rather, it's the joy of the experience of being here together and celebrating in the community that makes a graduation special," Portland Public Schools Superintendent Xaviar Botana said.

"I think the people in this class, in particular, are really going to create a lot of change in the world and I think that that really came out this year," graduate Wren Criden-Clark said.

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