FARMINGTON -- If the weather holds, Farmington High's Class of 2020 will be the first class to graduate in the new Cardinal Stadium.
The high school received approval from the Arkansas Department of Education to hold a traditional graduation ceremony as long as it abides by restrictions and guidelines put in place due to covid-19 concerns.
"It was really important that because of what these kids had to endure, we wanted to top it off with something special, which we thought it should be a graduation in the new stadium," said Clayton Williams, assistant principal.
Principal Jon Purifoy told School Board members on Feb. 26 that graduation had outgrown Cardinal Arena and would be moved to the stadium for 2020 and future years. Farmington's original graduation date was May 12.
Little did Purifoy or anyone else know how everything would change within the next month as people began to get sick from the new coronavirus and the infection spread across the country. Gov. Asa Hutchinson closed schools for in-person instruction in mid-March and then later extended those closings through the remainder of the year to help slow down the spread of the virus.
Farmington's commencement service will be at 10 a.m. Friday, July 24. Each graduate will receive 10 tickets for guests to attend the ceremony.
If the weather does not cooperate, graduation will be moved to Cardinal Arena, and the number of guest tickets will be reduced to five per graduate.
"We're really hopeful we can pull it off," Williams said.
For those who cannot attend commencement, the event will be streamed on the Farmington Live site at live.farmcards.org or it can been seen on YouTube by searching for Farmcards Live.
In many ways, the ceremony will be the same. Graduates will march into their seats to recorded music. Senior class president Reid Petrie will welcome classmates and family members. The 2020 class valedictorian, Jonathan Brye, and 2020 class salutatorian, Joshua Jowers, will address those in the stadium.
Graduates will walk across the stage for the presentation of diplomas and to have a graduation photo taken.
Some traditions missing this year will be a senior group photo taken before the ceremony and musical presentations by Farmington High Band and the high school's honor choir, Crimson Select.
Usually, school staff walk in behind the graduates and sit together as a group behind the students. Williams said school officials wanted to maximze the number of visitors so they decided not to have the staff walk in together. Staff may be there on a voluntary basis to help as needed.
Graduates will be seated six feet apart on the stadium's turf field, facing the stage placed in front of the indoor practice facility.
Williams said it will probably take most of the football field to seat the students because of physical distancing. The Class of 2020 has 178 graduates. Family members are required to wear masks and will sit in the home and visitor bleachers, with every other row roped off to guests. Guests also can stand in the concession area if they are safely distanced from non-family members.
The goal is to keep the ceremony under an hour because of the heat, Williams said.
"The ceremony will definitely be scaled back," he added.
In past graduations, students had a dress code. This year's dress code will be more relaxed and students will be allowed to wear shorts and T-shirts under their graduation gowns.
At the end of the ceremony, the new Class of 2020 will march out. Williams said school officials are asking people not to congregate but to go home and celebrate with family members.
Parents with the 2020 Project Graduation plan to hand out gift bags to graduates during a required practice on Thursday, and parents are sponsoring an optional Baccalaureate service at 8 p.m. Friday, July 24, in the parking lot at Farmington First Baptist Church on Rheas Mill.
