When walking into Gonzaga College High School as a student, you do not just walk into a school. You enter into a brotherhood rooted deeply in tradition. As a freshman, you imagine what your experience will entail: cheering shirtless during fourth quarters at football games, attending Kairos, eating insurmountable amounts of food at the annual international food fairs, screaming “On Eagles’ Wings’” in St. Al’s and, of course, celebrating an iconic graduation.
“I just want the whole senior class to be there in white jackets like every other year,” said Patrick Donnelly, senior.
For years, graduating seniors, dressed in white dinner jackets, have packed into St. Aloysius Church with their families to celebrate their accomplishments of the past four years. Followed by a reception out on the field full of pictures, the event is something that students look to as a spectacle. However, the Covid-19 pandemic has changed many of those traditions this year, including the Class of 2021 graduation.
“I know graduation is going to be different this year, and I don’t really know if anything is certain, but I really hope there is a reception on the field like always to give us a chance to be with each other on Eye Street one last time,” said Mak Krivka, senior and Student Government Association president.
The ever-changing nature of the situation has created difficulties in establishing a graduation plan. The Gonzaga administration is dedicated to having as close to a normal graduation while following the CDC and D.C. Department of Health regulations.
“We are committed to having the ceremony on graduation day,” said Mr. Tom Every, headmaster.
Mr. Every said graduation day is Sunday, June 6. Mr. Every also ensured that Gonzaga will be keeping as many traditions as they can. The students will receive their diplomas in St. Al’s, wearing white tuxedo jackets.
Another goal of his was to have the entire senior class there at the same time for graduation. The way this will be done remains uncertain, but Mr. Every said they are “planning for all possibilities,” such as using the full campus to host the entire senior class and as many others that are allowed to attend. Because the senior class is less than one-third of the student body, all cohorts could be on campus at one time, as of now.
A lot of questions still surround the graduation of 2021, but Gonzaga wants to do everything possible to make it traditional. Although it is highly doubtful that the event will be identical to those celebrations of the past, Mr. Every’s goal remains the same—to give the Class of 2021 the graduation they have worked for the past four years.