GONZALES — Teachers and school staff at Gonzales High School formed a caravan of cars 20-strong to tour Gonzales and Chualar to wish their graduating seniors farewell on May 29.
By the end of their two-and-a-half-hour drive, parents had joined them to increase the size of the caravan as they rolled through neighborhoods.
“We want to let them know we remember them and do some justice for them before they graduate,” said Julius Purnsley, principal at Gonzales High School.
Purnsley said the message to seniors was important after they’ve been sheltering in place for three months and will graduate in less than two weeks. That graduation will be a June 13 drive-through ceremony at the high school stadium. The 180 graduates are advised to keep to less than five people per car when driving through the stadium.
Friday’s parade traveled through neighborhoods on both sides of the highway bridge in Gonzales as well as through Chualar to make sure they visited the main population areas where students come from.
“People came out to celebrate with us,” Purnsley said. “They made signs and had photo-ops.”
He said staffers who didn’t join the parade’s caravan who live in the visited neighborhoods came out to take part in the celebration and walked along during parts to take photos of celebrating seniors.
“It’s a bittersweet thing,” Purnsley said about the circumstances of the parade, explaining the conflict of how touching it was to celebrate with their students, but having to do so from a car and after so much time with everyone isolated.
“You’d rather have that traditional celebration, but it’s just not feasible,” he added. “This was the compromise that they came up with.”
For those unable to make it to the June 13 graduation, which begins at 9 a.m., Purnsley said the school is currently working on a way to set up a live stream of the ceremony.
