Geibel Catholic Junior-Senior High School’s Class of 2020 has drive-by parade
Mark Hofmann | Herald-Standard
Morgan Motycki, a senior at Geibel Catholic Junior-Senior High School, enjoys the school’s drive-thru commencement parade on Friday, the day the seniors’ tradition commencement ceremony was to take place.
Mark Hofmann | Herald-Standard
Vehicles filled with seniors graduating from Geibel Catholic Junior-Senior High School and their parents take part in a drive-thru commencement ceremony.
Mark Hofmann | Herald-Standard
Geibel Catholic Junior-Senior High School Principal Patricia Nickler hands over a senior yard sign to a graduating senior during a drive-thru commencement ceremony on Friday.
Mark Hofmann | Herald-Standard
Geibel Catholic Junior-Senior High School teacher Nick Bell waves at a graduating senior in a car during the school’s drive-thru commencement ceremony on Friday.
Mark Hofmann | Herald-Standard
Teachers at Geibel Catholic Junior-Senior High School participated in a drive-thru commencement ceremony on Friday to cheer on graduating seniors from a safe distance.
Graduating seniors at Geibel Catholic Junior-Senior High School were treated to a drive-thru parade on the day they were supposed to have their traditional graduation ceremony.
Principal Patricia Nickler said the staff brainstormed about how to give the seniors a memorable experience.
“One thing was they didn’t get a chance to see their teachers for the last time,” Nickler said.
So on Friday, Geibel’s Class of 2020 had the opportunity to decorate their vehicles for a drive-thru parade. The school hopes to host an in-person commencement ceremony on July 23, though those details are still being worked out.
The parade started from the student lot, along the driveway in front of the school in Connellsville where the school’s chaplain, the Rev. Daniel Carr, blessed the vehicles.
The students picked up a personalized yard sign and a gift box containing candy, a rosary, letters from their teachers and their report card and they proceed toward the exit with their teachers waving to them along the way.
“I thought it was very successful,” Nickler said after seeing the students in their vehicles along with their parents. “I think it was meaningful to have their parents in the car with them.”
Senior Josie Pindro of Jumonville said she enjoyed seeing her friends and her teachers and even going past the school, all of which she hadn’t seen in person for the previous two months.
“We didn’t know at the time we would never go back,” Pindro said when schools were first shut down and later determined to not reopen for the remainder of the school year.
Pindro’s parents also went with her to the parade as she said they enjoyed seeing her not necessarily graduate, but something the school did for her and her classmates’ senior year.
“Thank you, Geibel, and everything you’ve done for me,” she said.
Senior Ryan Rusko of Uniontown said he decided to take part in the parade because he wanted to see what everyone wrote on their vehicles for the parade and especially to see his teachers, even if only from a distance.
“I thought it was kind of one last drive out of Geibel,” Rusko said.
His vehicle had two messages: “Bye, Geibel” and “Honk! There’s a grad in the car!”
Rusko’s mother and father accompanied him.
“They thought it was nice,” Rusko said. “Like me, they liked seeing everyone as it was some type of goodbye.”