Vienna High School Class of 2020 Graduation Plan

Vienna High School graduation will take place on May 15. The celebration will begin at 5:15 p.m. with the singing of the national anthem, graduation speeches, and the presentation of diplomas, all being broadcast on the school website at http://www.viennahighschool.com/media/livebroadcast.

Graduates and their families will line up in their cars, entering the parking lot by the Principal’s Office from College Street. They will remain in their cars lining up on College Street and winding back towards 6th Street and then backing up south onto 6th Street (see map, orange highlight). We are only allowing one car per graduate in order to have enough room. As each student and his or her family approaches the area designated for presenting diplomas, the student’s graduation biography will be read, and the student will pick up his or her diploma jacket from a table and have his or her picture taken by a professional. Only the student will be allowed out of the car at this time to adhere to guidelines and keep everyone safe.

Then, the graduate and his or her family will continue on to a graduation celebration parade that begins as the car drives through the lower parking lot and then to the designated parade route through downtown (see map, blue highlight).

Students are encouraged to decorate their cars in celebration and ride safely as one would in a parade. They are encouraged to invite friends and family to line the streets along the parade route in their cars, watch the speeches and live stream, and cheer on the graduates while maintaining social distancing. 

In addition to this live event, a professional video will be made that includes the graduation speeches and the presentation of diplomas and published on the school website. 

In case of bad weather, the diploma presentation will reroute through the new gym with all other traffic patterns remaining the same. 

Seniors who ordered caps and gowns can pick them up in the Principal’s Office from 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. this Thursday, May 7, or from 7:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. this Friday, May 8. If they need to arrange another time to pick up their caps and gowns, they can call 658-4461 ext. 217.

We have some pre-recorded speeches that will air on May 15, beginning at 5:15 p.m., before the presentation of diplomas and parade. 

Kyleigh Smith will begin the recording by singing the national anthem. Then Evan Gurley will give the invocation. Next, Mr. Stafford will give opening remarks, followed by Mr. Giffin acknowledging honors. Cody Johnson will give the class president’s speech, and Emma Goines will read a poem she has written. Mrs. Anderson will then introduce the valedictorians. The valedictorians will speak (Kylie Branscum, Haley Bundren, Reagan Johnson, Emma Wells, and Travis Woodsworth), followed by the salutatorian, Reagan Hill. 

Each graduate and his or her family will line up by car beginning at the front entrance of the high school. Since the recorded speeches will be aired at 5:15 p.m., the graduates should be lined up at 5:15 p.m. Once the recorded speeches are finished, the presentation of diplomas will begin. As the graduate’s car approaches, his or her graduation biography will be read. At a designated point, the graduate will step out of the car to pick up his or her diploma jacket from a table and have a professional photograph taken. Please note that students will receive the diploma jacket, and the actual diploma will be mailed later, just as this is done every year at graduation. 

Once the student has received his or her diploma jacket and had a photograph taken, the graduate and his or her family will drive down through the lower parking lot where faculty, staff, and board members will be cheering the graduates on. This will begin the parade route (see map, blue highlight) that the Vienna Police Department will lead and will continue downtown. After exiting the school parking lot, the parade will follow a route starting with a left turn (south) on 4th Street and then turning right (west) before the Methodist Church on Green Street and then left (south) on 5th Street to the courthouse square. The parade route will end once the parade has gone around the square and ended on Route 146. 

A professional photographer will take each graduate’s photo in front of the school. Some students may not have been able to have senior pictures taken because of the restrictions, so this picture will be senior picture quality and is intended to be a keepsake. An unedited version of the picture will be posted to Facebook the night of graduation, and each graduate will also receive an edited 5×7 copy that will be mailed as well as an edited digital copy that will be emailed at no cost. 

A professional videographer will record the speeches along with each graduate receiving a diploma. Each graduate will be given a commemorative DVD of the event at no cost.