Pandemic and Circumstance: Seneca Valley celebrates graduation
JACKSON TWP — The band played the “Pomp and Circumstance” marching song as Seneca Valley students, mostly maskless, proceeded to their seats on the field donning mortarboards and black graduation gowns.
NexTier Stadium's bleachers were filled with proud family members who sat side-by-side with relatives of the other students.
To an observer pulled from 2019, nothing had changed. But for Seneca Valley's Class of 2021, it was a shockingly normal graduation ceremony after tumultuous junior and senior years.
And for Superintendent Tracy Vitale, the change — from masks, social distancing and online or blended learning to a packed commencement ceremony — was not lost on her. As the country and state, reeling from the pandemic for more than a year, loosens restrictions and gradually returns to normal, so, too, will her students begin their next chapter.
“Does it not feel good?” Vitale asked, later adding, “I encourage you, right now, to lean into this moment.”
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