An open letter from the Sycamore Senior Class of 2020 about graduation

Editor's note: The following is an open letter sent Thursday to the Daily Chronicle, Sycamore District 427 Superintendent Kathy Countryman and the Sycamore school board regarding Class of 2020 graduation plans which have been forced to change amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The school board announced the virtual graduation plans during a public meeting Tuesday. The Illinois State Board of Education has ruled that no in-person graduation ceremonies are allowed indefinitely due to public health concerns.

Dear Mrs. Countryman, the District 427 School Board, and the Daily Chronicle,

We are the class of the 2020 seniors: the ones whose last day is gone and forgotten, the ones who will never get their final dance, the ones who will never get to feel the joy and excitement of so many cherished high school traditions. We are reaching out to you today because we are disappointed.

First, we are disappointed that you failed to inform us about the change in graduation plans before telling the media, as we had to find out from a news article rather than our school directly. We are further disappointed that there are plans to have our ceremony replaced with a two-hour online speech, which will never be able to match the sense of closure, comfort, nor gratification an in-person ceremony would provide.

We feel our voices have failed to be heard by our school system, so we have decided to reach out to you to express our opinions directly. We were never given the opportunity to say goodbye to our teachers, our friends, and our memories that the school held for us. We will be missing out on major memories that we were supposed to have in the last months of high school. However, we do not want to miss the ceremony we have been promised throughout our thirteen years of schooling, and we plan to do everything in our power to make it happen.

All of us have beloved memories at Sycamore High School, which have shaped us into the people we are today. As we prepare to embark on a new journey, we want a true sense of closure that we believe only an in-person graduation ceremony will provide, where we will have our last opportunity to say goodbye to many of the people who made our high school experience the best it could be. We only ask that you take some time and reconsider the way you want the class of 2020 to celebrate this important milestone.

An online graduation simply is not fulfilling like a real high school graduation would be, as it is a once in a lifetime celebration. We ask you not to move our graduation online, but to postpone it until further notice, when we know it is safe to gather. Many other schools across the nation have simply rescheduled their graduation to a June or July date, and informed their students in advance that if large gatherings are still banned at that point, the ceremony will be moved online.

Could we potentially do this instead? Even if it ends up being online, allow us to hold onto some hope that we will be able to finish our high school careers like every other senior has gotten to before us. We all understand that you must do what will keep us and our community safe, and we will understand that if we are unable to have the ceremony later in the summer, it will have to be online, and we will be thankful to at least have that opportunity.

We would like to make clear we are beyond grateful for the opportunities Sycamore High School has offered us during this terrible series of events, but we would like this opportunity to make our opinions and voices heard. We have a variety of ideas for the ceremony that we would love to share if you are willing to take our thoughts into consideration. Nobody knows what the situation will be in the summer, and we don’t want to give up our graduation ceremony yet if we do not have to.

The media (WLBK and Daily Chronicle) has announced that there will be a graduation reception held on August 2nd. Our question to you is: Can we schedule both a reception and a ceremony on that day, or a different day if necessary? We want the chance to celebrate what we’ve earned with the people who helped us earn it.

Please take our thoughts into consideration, and as stated before, we have multiple alternative ideas for a ceremony. If this is going to be the last memory of our high school careers, we want it to be the best it can be.


Sincerely,
Julia Heller
Jase Hayes
Kaari Hostler
Emmalee Torson
Priya Patel 
Ellie Lochbaum
Cole Heinisch
Kaitlyn Berntsen
Emma Goldman 
Hannah Vogel
Derek Lawrence 
Payton Siragusa
Bryce Guerrettaz
Abby Krull
Miranda England
Shannon Jackman
Amanda Veldhuizen
Alex Crawford
Gwyn Golembiewski
Nathan Cohn
Garrett Rubis
Alivia Morey
Taylor Bigelow 
Brady Keierleber 
Maria Stoner
Morgan Heinisch 
Mckayla Montani 
Mckayla Fitzpatrick 
Emily Ryan 
Torrance Sharp 
Bethany Aldis 
Alexis Vogt
Nick Lockhart
Angela Butera
Ashley Kijowski
Isaac Plagakis
Tyler Madden
Jessie Renteria 
Noah Forsberg
James Barrowman
Iain Purdom
Charlie Oestreicher
Laramie O'Sullivan
Keegan Palm
Kenedie Considine 
Noelle Muhr
Ashley Parks
Jeffrey Bozek
Zak Kozumplik
Jayden Cedillo 
Gavin Anderson
Mary Wetzel 
Montana O'Flaherty
Jared Grubbs 
Austin Bunge
Emma Gerwig
Allie Drake
Mary Gilbert
Audrey Wetzel
Grace Fitch
Mia Coovert
Peyton Colvin
Abby Madden
Audrey Boyle
Alexis Shirley
Andrea Covarrubias
Claire Dancey 
Tori Kenny-Gates
Max Baird
Olivia Cloat
Taylor Kenny-Gates 
Riley Winburn
Rebecca Biarnesen-Ruiz 
Alexis Munch
Jennyfer Cruz
Frida Cuevas
Ashley Dicken
Alex Umekubo
Andrea Ocelotl 
William Delmer
Jacob Nations 
Breanna Skaar
Justin Meier
Hannah Retuerto 
Braden Dailey
Kallie Beinarauskas 
Sheridan Bolden
Samantha Koley
Emalyn Polz
Madison Klassen
Jacalyn Kenney
Trinity Nordbrock 
Madisyn Boddy
Shelby Edwards 
David Ruetten 
Kierah Meier
Hannah Schramm
Sydney Clark
Elizabeth Haub 
Analisa Joyner
Owen Bockman
Maddi Rangel 
Victoria Alfaro
Megan Kolberg 
Paul Ruetten
Owen Polichnowski
Makenzie Kozar 
Austin Brannon
Ethan Brannon
Timothy Hughes
Jacob Medernach
Aiedan Loptien
Kenzie Repeta
Kaitlynne Cappello 
Kristin Plauck
Makena Slinkard
Nathan Garman 
Elina Keswani
Margaret Nanfria
Eli Briscoe 
Joseph Quinn
Jacob Dean
Ian Decker
Matthew Johnston 
Logan Egler
Allison Polly
Thomas Chaplin
Jacob Hove
Jack Piazza