Virtual Graduation Tips for Administrators

How to hold a successful, virtual graduation.

It’s true what they say, “No one knows what the future holds.” Each and every school year brings about unexpected twists and turns. Obviously, the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic has made it more challenging than most, but we still want to make sure our students experience the memorable experience of high school graduation.

So, while COVID has certainly gotten in the way of traditional plans, we’re here to help with some graduation tips.

A Turnkey Solution

You may be wondering, “where do I even begin?” First, you need to decide how and with what platform you want to host a virtual graduation. For those schools who don’t wish to go it on their own, Herff Jones, in collaboration with StageClip and MarchingOrder, offers a virtual graduation solution that provides an easy-to-implement platform to celebrate your graduates’ achievements. Our virtual graduation platform isn’t like any ordinary Zoom call, it is customizable so you can create the most memorable ceremony for your graduates.

These features include:
• Play audio of each student’s name, pronounced correctly, as their personalized slide is displayed
• Gift each new graduate their individual #MoveTheTassel moment with a personalized, video file
• Virtually gather students and their families to celebrate commencement;
• And more!

How to make it memorable

Once you have the ceremony planned, it is time to think of how to make their graduation experience unique. 2021 graduates faced an uncertain year, most not even being in person for their entire senior year; we want to ensure our graduates feel recognized and valued. So how can you do this?

Drive-Thru Grad Parade
A drive-thru grad parade is a great way to safely bring faculty, staff, and students together. Have your staff line up throughout the parking lot and down the street with banners and posters. Your seniors will drive through, excited to see their teachers cheering and celebrating them. Seniors can even decorate their cars, showing off their high school accomplishments and future plans. You could have a contest for the best decorated car. Play music to keep the energy up. Have fun as your students will remember this parade for the rest of their lives.

Deliver Senior Swag to their Homes
Senior year is the year students get to show off their graduation pride through apparel and other senior swag. Gather your teachers to deliver senior swag bags to their homes – leaving the bag at their doorsteps. These bags can contain a school t-shirt, Class of 2021 water bottle, keychains, or anything you want to give your students to remember their senior year by. Having teacher’s deliver these bags will make the experience more memorable and they will feel that their school and teachers care about them.

Honor your Seniors on Social Media
Start now and shout out your seniors on social media. This can be saying what their future plans are, the activities they did in high school, or even just fun facts. Your students will want to share and interact with the posts because it’s about them. You can use Instagram stories or Facebook stories to easily show your pride in your seniors.

COVID may have gotten in the way of your traditions, but that doesn’t mean your seniors don’t deserve a memorable graduation. We hope that with these tools and ideas, you will be able to give the Class of 2021 a graduation to remember.

GET STARTED WITH VIRTUAL GRADUATION NOW