The Paton-Churdan 2020 Senior Class will get their moment of recognition later today.

The graduation ceremony will be held at 2pm in the school gymnasium in Churdan. Principal Annie Smith says due to COVID-19, the ceremony will be restricted to graduates’ families, which will be grouped together and staying six-feet apart. When the school district found out that the school building would be closed for the rest of the school year, Smith notes the District reached out to the seniors to get their input of whether or not to hold a graduation ceremony.

“That’s something that (Superintendent) Mr. (Kreg) Lensch and I have talked about from the very beginning as we wanted them to be kind of the ones giving their direction of sorts, and we’ll do the job of keeping it within the guidelines and that part of it. But it’s just really important to have that relationship and that they are able to celebrate in a way that’s meaningful to them.”

Following the ceremony at 2:45pm the graduates will be lined up in front of the school to allow anyone to drive by in their vehicles to honk, wave and give congratulatory remarks.