Drive-thru graduation celebrates Flagstaff Academy Class of 2020

When SVVSD canceled in-person learning and activities for the remainder of the 19-20 school year, administrators at Flagstaff Academy leapt into action. If the school couldn't hold a traditional graduation ceremony, they still wanted to give the 107 eighth-graders a way to commemorate the occasion with their classmates, even if it had to be from a distance. A few phone calls and emails later, plans for a "very unique" experience to celebrate the Class of 2020 were underway.

"We have created a drive through graduation that will allow us to safely recognize our Dragons well beyond an online video," the south Longmont charter school's communication director Lisa Trank-Green said. "Some of our Dragons have been with us for more than ten years and we wanted to try to provide a one-of-a-kind memory for this once-in-a-lifetime situation."

With a little help from Mountain West Production Group, MJ Thomas Photography, and the school's PTA, Flagstaff Academy held a special drive-through graduation ceremony on Wednesday, May 20. Speaking from a temporary stage in the school's parking lot, Dean of Students Kevin Pugh and middle school principal Katie Gustafson conducted the "socially distant" event, while graduates and their families listened to a livestream from their cars. Cars approached the stage one-at-a-time, and students had the option of receiving their diploma with a solo walk across the stage (mask required) while a slideshow showing each graduate was displayed.

Pugh and Gustafson opened the ceremony by highlighting accomplishments of the class, and noting their resilience in faces of the difficult circumstances in the final weeks of the school year. Niwot salutatorian Julia Curd, a Flagstaff alum ('16) and past winner of the Ethical Leadership award, also addressed the class.

The administrators then recognized several individual student accomplishments, including the Decade Dragons (students who have attended Flagstaff since preschool) and the 13 valedictorians, who recorded speeches earlier in the week that were played later in the ceremony. The administrators also announced winners of the 2020 Ethical Leadership Award, Ellery Hora, and the Good Neighbor citizenship award, which led to one of the night's most touching moments when Pugh's son Garrett Pugh was revealed as the recipient of the latter.

Parents then drove their graduates to the stage to receive their diplomas. Among them was the family of Odin Mitchem, a member of the Class of 2020 who passed away in 2016. The school recently dedicated a "buddy bench" in his honor.

"We have not lost Odin in our hearts," Pugh said. "He is very much still a part of this class...He loved making friends and trying to make other people be friends."

The ceremony concluded with a video from the eighth graders' reengineered Legacy Project, featuring a video tribute to Flagstaff.

"The staff at Flagstaff Academy organized an amazing drive-thru graduation ceremony," parent Deborah Read Fowler said. Her son Oliver was among the graduates. "They made it really special and memorable. Even better, we could share the livestream link with his grandparents all back in England so they could feel part of it too."

(See more photos online here.)