Core memory or avoidable controversy?
A high school in the Nashville area is having to do a little PR management this week after their outdoor graduation ceremony went horribly wrong last Thursday. Centennial High School and Franklin High School (both in the Williamson County school district) graduates were ready to celebrate their milestone moment and walk across the stage in their caps and gowns to get their their diplomas.
Mother Nature decided to step in and make things interesting.
For some reason, those organizing the graduation ceremony decided to have the event outdoors, and didn’t waver when they saw the ugly forecast for the day. One might assume that they would have had a “Plan B” that involved… oh, I don’t know, a venue with a roof over it? After all, much of the United States has been getting hit with heavy rain into and over Memorial Day weekend.
Instead, they went full steam ahead with their outdoor ceremony, and that didn’t turn out all that great. It started raining cats and dogs as soon as the ceremony began, and the Williamson County school district kept going with the event as if it were a sunny day.
Superintendent Jason Golden said in a statement that their forecast told them to go on with the ceremony, and that they’d likely avoid the heaviest of the rain. Based upon the video below, it’s safe to say that the forecast they were consulting could not have been more wrong:
“Based on forecasts and radar, we expected to complete last night’s ceremonies at Centennial and Franklin before the next wave of rain began, but unfortunately, changing conditions brought rain during the events. While the rain impacted those two ceremonies, it could not diminish our pride in our Centennial and Franklin graduates.”
It was one heck of a “next wave of rain” that couldn’t have hit at a worse time:
Hope they were handing out waterproof diplomas.
There are two types of people in this world: those who would make the most of that situation, and those who would rather be anywhere else. I commend the kids that smiled through it, and simultaneously, I feel for the graduates who couldn’t wait to get out of there. I’m sure some didn’t even show up because of the weather.
I suppose it’s a good thing that graduation caps (the official name for them is “mortarboard”) somewhat double as umbrellas. Many of the students thought ahead and sported ponchos over their gowns, which had to be miserable. Anyone that’s ever worn a plastic poncho knows that the thin material of those things inexplicably creates the world’s best insulation (A.K.A. sweating profusely).
Wearing one over a graduation gown had to be torturous.
Though it looks like some of the graduates tried to have fun with it, a number of students and their families were upset, and rightfully so. A good amount of people were concerned for the safety of everyone there, and according to graduates, the pictures they got from their big night were completely useless.
For better or worse, it all made for a very memorable graduation ceremony… though I’m sure a number of graduating students are ready to forget it.
