HAMPTON, Va. — High school graduations look different now due to the coronavirus pandemic, but the Hampton City School District is celebrating the graduating class of 2020 in several ways.
The progressive commencement began May 18, and it all leads up to virtual graduation ceremonies next week.
But what about one of the highlights like walking across the stage and taking pictures in your cap and gown?
The school district covered that too, for all 1,425 students.
For seniors in Hampton City schools, it's a moment to help make up for the real ceremony, now happening virtually online.
Between June 1 and June 3, students show up for their registered time slot. Then they walk across a stage dressed in a cap and gown, one at a time.
At center stage, students pose for a picture with an empty diploma jacket, while loved ones cheer from a distance.
"He's one of my two sons and I'm just immensely proud of them,” said mother, Karen Herod.
Administrators for Hampton, Kecoughtan, Bethel, and Phoebus high schools help recreate the graduation tradition. However, because of coronavirus, it's happening on separate stages outside the scheduled venue, the Hampton Coliseum.
Phoebus High School Executive Principal James Harris said, "It's definitely a priceless moment, just to see the smiles on their faces."
The smiles say it all, even though students don't get their official diploma until after their virtual graduation in about a week, but they get free commemorative pictures and a brief in-person celebration.
Bethel High School senior Joshua Herod said," It means a lot."
To Herod, he said this moment means his hard work paid off, "If I wasn't at home, I was 100 percent at school, whether it was sports, afterschool clubs, stuff like that."
"It was definitely emotional being up there. It wasn't the same as being in the Coliseum of course, but they still made it special for us,” said Kecoughtan High senior Deanna Fitzgerald.
Hampton City School District Superintendent Dr. Jeffery Smith said students not only made it through all those years of schooling, but the coronavirus pandemic smoothly.
"Our young people will navigate them quite well and contribute to a larger and greater purpose," said Dr. Smith. "I truly believe as superintendent that they are college, career, and life-ready."
With all of the recent changes, this tradition's giving graduating seniors and families a moment of normalcy and celebration.
For a schedule of Hampton City Schools graduation events click here.