{"id":23111,"date":"2020-05-27T16:27:41","date_gmt":"2020-05-27T22:27:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skyhinews.com\/?p=64811"},"modified":"2020-05-28T07:18:15","modified_gmt":"2020-05-28T13:18:15","slug":"middle-park-seniors-make-plans-for-uncertain-future-with-graduation-on-saturday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/local-news\/middle-park-seniors-make-plans-for-uncertain-future-with-graduation-on-saturday\/","title":{"rendered":"Middle Park seniors make plans for uncertain future with graduation on Saturday"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image p402_hide\">\n<div class=\"caption-container\">\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1021\" height=\"703\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.skyhinews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2020\/05\/Screen-Shot-2020-05-27-at-10.23.44-AM.png\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.skyhinews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2020\/05\/Screen-Shot-2020-05-27-at-10.23.44-AM.png 1021w, https:\/\/cdn.skyhinews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2020\/05\/Screen-Shot-2020-05-27-at-10.23.44-AM-300x207.png 300w, https:\/\/cdn.skyhinews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2020\/05\/Screen-Shot-2020-05-27-at-10.23.44-AM-768x529.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1021px) 100vw, 1021px\"><\/p><figcaption><strong>Seniors Lela Myers and Jack Orear will celebrate graduation in a way they never expected this weekend. College plans have been shaken, but both are hoping that their campuses will be open this fall.<\/strong><br \/><em>Courtesy of Lela Myers and Jack Orear<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>As Lela Myers enjoyed the last couple months at Middle Park High School, she realized how fast her senior year was flying by.<\/p>\n<p>Lela was trying to participate as fully as possible and go to all the events she could make it to. She had wrapped up the school musical and was practicing for her last soccer season with high hopes.<\/p>\n<p>Her first soccer game was scheduled for the day everything was canceled.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve been told that senior year is going to be my year,\u201d Lela said. \u201cThen right when we were realizing that, it all got taken away.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col\" readability=\"6\">\n<div class=\"row shn-donation shn-donation-mobile p-0\" readability=\"7\">\n<div class=\"col-xl-4 p-2\">\n<div data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.skyhinews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2020\/02\/shn-logo-2x-wht.png)\" class=\"p-0 mt-2 mb-2 h-75 text-center rocket-lazyload\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.skyhinews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2020\/02\/shn-logo-2x-wht.png\" class=\"logo m-0 p-0 invisible\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><h3 class=\"d-inline mr-3\">Support Local Journalism<\/h3>\n<p><button class=\"btn d-inline\" type=\"button\" onclick=\"handleDonationButtonClickMidArticle()\">Donate<\/button><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Around that same time, senior Jack Orear was skiing in a competition at Vail, but the last two days of the event were canceled as the wave of March closures began. Soon after, all schools in Grand County closed to in-person learning.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was more of a shock than anything else because no one expected this in a million years,\u201d Jack said. \u201cIt happened very quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As it became clear to both students they wouldn\u2019t be going back to school, the seniors tried to adjust to an unfamiliar level of independent learning. Beyond that, they had to get used to not seeing their friends or teachers every day.<\/p>\n<p>For Jack, adjusting was difficult, but things could have been worse if school had stayed open.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI just felt that I wasn\u2019t being impacted as much as people could be if they had relatives that were sick and dying,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was sort of a perspective thing for me, where I realized I wasn\u2019t losing as much as some people might have lost if we had stayed in school and hadn\u2019t changed things. But it was certainly hard.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jack, Lela and the rest of Middle Park\u2019s graduating class will be saying goodbye on Saturday in a way they didn\u2019t imagine.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI guess I was expecting a little bit more closure,\u201d Jack added. \u201cIt\u2019s sort of surreal that it\u2019s ending this way.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Principal Cindy Rimmer and other school officials worked hard to make this a ceremony the Class of 2020 won\u2019t soon forget by obtaining a fleet of golf carts. Provided by Grand Elk Golf Club and Granby Ranch Golf Course, each graduate will get a cart to share with up to three family members.<\/p>\n<p>The students will receive their diplomas and then parade through town.<\/p>\n<div class=\"p402_hide\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\n<div class=\"caption-container\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.skyhinews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2020\/05\/Screen-Shot-2020-05-27-at-10.32.04-AM.png\" alt class=\"wp-image-64859\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.skyhinews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2020\/05\/Screen-Shot-2020-05-27-at-10.32.04-AM.png 888w, https:\/\/cdn.skyhinews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2020\/05\/Screen-Shot-2020-05-27-at-10.32.04-AM-300x222.png 300w, https:\/\/cdn.skyhinews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2020\/05\/Screen-Shot-2020-05-27-at-10.32.04-AM-768x569.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 888px) 100vw, 888px\"><\/p><figcaption><strong>Middle Park High School\u2019s graduation procession will start around 11 a.m. Saturday.<\/strong><br \/><em>Courtesy Granby PD<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>The graduation plans took multiple revisions as public health guidance changed, but school staff made it clear they want the ceremony to be special for the students. And students have noticed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI really just appreciate Ms. Rimmer going to all the effort that she went through to get the graduation plan approved,\u201d Jack said. \u201cI think that\u2019s really special. I think that\u2019s not something a lot of principals would go through for their students.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Temperatures will be checked before the ceremony and students will have to follow social distancing, so the typical celebratory hugs will be missing. Even with the graduation, the students will be loosing out on a lot of other traditions meant to conclude the high school experience.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m hoping for some type of closure, but I\u2019m struggling to see how it could be a reality,\u201d Lela added.<\/p>\n<p>Both students are heading out of state for college with Jack going to the University of Alabama to study aerospace engineering and Lela going to the University of Florida. While orientation has been moved online for the soon-to-be college freshmen, both their campuses look like they\u2019ll be opening this fall.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, the pandemic remains a stressor on the students\u2019 minds. While it has already warped the end of her high school career, Lela hopes there won\u2019t be a second wave as she starts university.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t want the country to open up so much that it causes a resurgence, and completely changes my life again once I\u2019ve started at college,\u201d Lela said. \u201cI want people to be safe and remember there\u2019s a pandemic out there. Just because the rules are loosening doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s safe to go expose yourself to hundreds of people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jack, who was only just beginning to think about his move to Alabama, was optimistic there could be some sort of ceremony later in the summer when guidelines are loosened so that he can say goodbye.<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.skyhinews.com\/news\/middle-park-seniors-make-plans-for-uncertain-future-with-graduation-on-saturday\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: Sky-Hi News<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Seniors Lela Myers and Jack Orear will celebrate graduation in a way they never expected this weekend. College plans have been shaken, but both are hoping that their campuses will be open this fall.Courtesy of Lela Myers and Jack Orear As Lela Myers enjoyed the last couple months at Middle Park High School, she realized [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-20 17:26:10","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KRKY Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23111"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23111\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23117,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23111\/revisions\/23117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}