We are only two days away from 8th grade promotion and I wanted to send out a reminder of the plans and procedure for Thursday evening:
Our 8th grade promotion is set for Thursday, June 18th. There will be a livestream broadcast on YouTube from 5pm-6pm (see further information below). The ceremony will be as close to the real thing as possible, with awards, certificates, a special slide show of our 8th graders, and of course a farewell speech by me! Unfortunately based on our circumstances, there is no direct involvement from the students during the ceremony portion of the proceedings. We ask that everyone just tune and watch to see if your student has received any of the 8th grade awards, watch the amazing slide show that has been put together, and hear your student’s name called for their promotion certificate!
The livestream will be followed by a car procession, “right of passage” through the front drive way of J.G. Whittier from 6:30-8:00pm.
Please pay close attention to these directions for the procession.
-Please DO NOT show up any earlier than 6:30pm because the driveway will be blocked off, there will be no staff outside (due to the ceremony), and it will cause traffic delays on Concord St. We appreciate your attention to this direction in helping make this event run smoothly.
-The procession will be from 6:30-8:00pm so please do not feel that you have to be at the school right at 6:30pm. If we have 130 cars show up at one time, we will not be able to give each car as much attention. If it is spaced out over the 90 minutes, we will be able to give more attention to each car as they arrive.
-Only 1 car per family will be permitted.
-We ask students/families to decorate a sign with the student’s name on it to display in your window to help us identify which 8th grade student is arriving. (Be creative with your signs)
-We ask that ALL cars approach JGW from the NORTH AVE side so that you are taking a right into the parking lot. There will be staff to direct you through the parking lot and into the front driveway.
-You will pull down to the gym where your 8th grade teachers will be waiting to distribute your student’s promotion certificate, yearbook, and any awards that they have received.
JGW Staff will be taking photos of our students/families in their cars as they are presented with their certificates. We would like to capture this moment for you. They will then be printed and mailed out to you. Making memories is what it’s all about!
-Once you have received your promotion certificate/yearbook, etc. we ask that you proceed out onto Concord St. by taking a right toward Kenoza Ave. This will really help with traffic flow and we appreciate your cooperation with this.
Please do not stop or get out of your cars! Safety is still our number one priority!
8th GRADE FRIENDS & FAMILIES:
This year’s 8th grade promotion ceremony will be broadcast on YouTube to celebrate the promotion from middle school to high school. To view this broadcast, you can visit whittier.haverhill-ps.org at 5pm on Thursday, June 18th. The car procession that is planned to happen at 6:30pm will be pre-recorded/video taped and uploaded along with the promotion ceremony. Please be aware that if you are bringing an 8th grade student to the car procession, the event will be video taped and broadcast online.
Finally we recognize that our 8th grade students want their dance and want to celebrate with their friends. It is our intent to hold a celebration as soon as possible by hosting a cookout/dance for our 8th graders as soon as it is safe to do so. Please stay tuned for that.
We look forward to seeing all 132 8th graders on Thursday evening! Please don’t forget to tune in to the live stream starting at 5pm.