It was a far cry from the traditional pomp and circumstance that typically envelopes a Shady Side Academy commencement, but the Class of 2020 was treated to a celebratory drive-through on the Fox Chapel campus Friday, an event still filled with cheers and tears from graduates, family and faculty.
Scheduled on the date of what would have been the school’s graduation, festivities were open only to a limited number of people because of covid-19 restrictions.
Officials are planning to mark the seniors’ achievements with an in-person, on-campus ceremony July 31.
“Logistics for that event will be dependent on the governor’s guidelines and what phase Allegheny County is in at the time, so planning is still underway,” Jen Roupe, director of communications, said.
School administrators are following suit of many in the area who are striving to commemorate the milestone in an unforgettable, albeit non-traditional, way.
Gateway High School graduates made history earlier this week when they celebrated in the Monroeville Mall parking lot during a hybrid commencement ceremony. Bubbles and helium balloons floated into the sky while families cheered their seniors near the Macy’s anchor spot.
At Riverview School District in Oakmont, commencement will be hosted June 9 at Riverside Drive-in in Parks Township. Camera crews will move from car to car to cast student images on the big screen when their names are called.
Shady Side Academy President Bart Griffith said the drive-through celebration was not what he had originally envisioned but, “it was wonderful given the circumstances.”
“We were able to celebrate our graduates and bring our community together in a safe and responsible way,” Griffith said.
The 2020 Shady Side Academy graduates are:
Aaliya Aga
Ethan Agostoni
Akshay Amesur
Reshub Bahri
Juliana Bem
Katherine Bennett
Alyssa Bockman
Charles Brunner
Talia Busquets
John Calihan
Nicole Caputo
Ava Caron
Cameron Casey
Zoe Conomikes
Elizabeth Curley
Marianna Daniele
Caroline Davis
Jack Del Sole
Brice Delaney
David Demchak
Michael DiMarsico
Russell Erb
Eric Evensen
Isabella Faiello
Edgar Faulkner
Andrew Fergus
Cole Frischman
Rose Genstein
Samuel Gerlach
William Gleason
Brock Glimcher
Vishnu Gosai
Maya Groff
George Grune
Avery Guyaux
Albert Hoe
Elena Hoffman
Alexandra Keefer
Sean Kelley
Aniket Kumta
Tucker Lamb
Trent Lane
Julia Lazzaris
Rose Lee
Yuchen Liang
Alison Linares Mendoza
Alexander Ludwick
Parker Maivald
Jacob Mancz
Sophia Marquette
John McGhee
Maxwell Minard
Grady Munroe
Thomas Muse
Sanjna Narayan
Jack Naughton
Arusha Nirvan
Anjali Patel
Arjun Patel
Guy Patterson
Lauren Peterson
Charlotte Repp
Alex Reuter
William Roberson
Eliyah Roberts
Olivia Rosenberg
John Salvitti
Isabella Salvucci
Elyssandra Santora
Daniella Santucci
Ahmer Shaikh
Ashwin Shankar
Nina Singh
Molly Skvorak
Sawyer Smith
Scout Spong
Tyler Stevens
David Strano
Tanner Thomas
Adeline Todd
Cassandra Tolmer
Mason Tomlin
John Uhlman
Vinitha Vavilathota
Frank Visco
Giridhar Viswanathan
Patrick Walsh
Yiwei Wang
Austin White
Daniel Xu
Qilin Ye
Sara Yossef
Alexander Yu
Tianyao Zhang
