Hilton Head High holds parade for seniors, as Beaufort County discusses graduations
Normally, traffic outside the Hilton Head Island school complex is a source of consternation for town residents — but on Friday night, cars stuck in a traffic jam were honking in celebration of students.
Hilton Head Island High School was holding its #BETHELIGHT parade for the school’s seniors, whose final semester of high school has been upended by school closures and uncertainty in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
Students returned to the school for the first time since March for the celebration, though they were confined to their cars in the parking lot. Many had decorated for the occasion — students talked while family members drove cars filled with balloons and displayed senior portraits and names on the doors.
“All the kids were either poking their heads out the windows or some had sunroofs,” parent Shannon Bedenbaugh said. “They were yelling to each other kind of far away and saying that they missed each other.”
They were greeted by principal Steven Schidrich and teachers “lining the street,” Bedenbaugh said.
They held signs for seniors: “Zoom Class of 2020,” “Clemson Bound, Congrats Kaitlyn!,” “Seahawk Seniors Rock.”
“Our teachers are out here, and they want to wish our seniors good luck and how much we miss them, and show how special they actually are,” Schidrich said at the parade.
Stars covered with the names of every senior were plastered across the front of the school building, illuminated by the flashing lights of ambulances and fire trucks there to help celebrate.
And as seniors drove around to the school’s athletic fields, they saw posters of student athletes — and all the scoreboards lit up, displaying 20-20 ties with 20 minutes and 20 seconds to go.
“You could just see the excitement in the kids’ faces,” Bedenbaugh said. “Even my daughter, she’s hanging out the sunroof. She could see somebody from far away, like a teacher that she missed so much, and she’d shout their name so loud.”
As Beaufort County approaches the end of the school year, several high schools have found creative ways to celebrate their seniors during social distancing. Many have held parades for their seniors, and put out yard signs letting neighbors know that a soon-to-be graduate lives there.
Beaufort County School District officials said Friday that the community should hear a decision on how schools will handle graduation some time next week, with superintendent Frank Rodriguez saying he wants “to make sure seniors have recognition and a proper ceremony.”
But in the meantime, schools and seniors will continue to celebrate with each other.
“It’s eye opening to how much these schools actually care for the kids,” Bedenbaugh said. “We all know how important grades and testing and all of that is, and a lot of what their jobs depend on, but a lot of times we don’t see that human factor.”