Vernon Secondary School class of 2021 paint the road at school

Victoria Femia

The graduates at the Vernon Secondary School left their mark before leaving high school for good.

Last year, the school revived the tradition of painting their names on the road at 30th Avenue Hill and this year they decided to continue the tradition at a different location.

“We’re out painting our drive-thru from 18th to 15th Street and having a lot of fun and celebrating with the kids and their leaving their mark as they leave high school,” said Principal Ken Gatzke.

Gatzke added that the paint will be washed off at some point, as it is waterproof and environmentally friendly.

The student’s graduation will be held Friday and Saturday and in order to abide by the COVID-19 protocols, this year’s graduation will be a drive-thru.

Gatzke called it a “cohorts ceremony for our grads,” which will take place on Friday in their gymnasium, just for the students.

Saturday they have a drive-thru grad for parents to come in one vehicle at a time and “every grad will be recognized for their 13 years of schooling.”

“Unique, that would be the best word to describe it, unique. Because no other class will have done this before and hopefully no other class will have to do this in the future,” said student Sasha Trickey.

“But I think it’s exciting for us to have something unique and different.”

Their graduation photos were also different this year, typically the graduates take a picture in front of the Vernon Court of Law, but this year the photos were taken on the steps of VSS so as not disturb the memorial on the courthouse steps for the remains of the 215 First Nations children recently discovered buried on the grounds of the former residential school in Kamloops.

The students wore orange ribbons on their gowns to continue honouring the children.

Typically graduates play their own version of Mission Impossible, but with COVID they couldn’t do it this year, so, the students got creative.

They created their own grad-game which involved water guns and targets, and the winner of the game won $500.

“We’ve made it the best year it can be,” said Trickey. “We’ve adapted and reacted and just tried our best to make the most out of the circumstances, which I think we have been pretty successful.

“Good on them for being a resilient class and I know they’re going to do just great in the future,” said Gatzke.