Shady Side Academy celebrates the class of 2020

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