End-of-year activities are underway at Adair County High School, set to culminate Friday at the Class of 2022 commencement ceremony in the ACHS gym.
“It’s a busy week for us but we’re excited to be able to celebrate our seniors,” says ACHS Principal Chad Parnell.
From the beginning of the week, it has been the complete opposite of business as usual for the almost 190 students set to walk across the graduation line Friday.
The annual senior breakfast was held yesterday morning, where seniors were treated to the fanciest meal one might ever find in a school cafeteria.
“That’s always a fun time,” Parnell says. “We make it kind of a formal event. Kids go through a buffet line and we have linens on the tables. It’s kind of one last hoorah for the seniors to be together in fellowship.”
After breakfast was the senior walk-through. Starting at the high school, students donned their caps and gowns and visited each school in succession, greeting younger students and past teachers along the way. The first stop was Adair Primary Center, followed by Adair Elementary and Adair County Middle School, before returning to ACHS.
“That’s a tradition that we started a few years ago,” Parnell says. “The kids like it and the younger kids at the primary center and elementary school always like seeing the bigger kids in their caps and gowns.”
The seniors’ celebration continues tonight with the senior parade, which Parnell says was a Covid-inspired event that proved popular enough to keep.
“That’s kind of a Covid carryover that we found out was pretty cool, people liked it, and it was really easy,” the principal explains. “Kids enjoy it—getting to decorate their cars—and parents and families get to come out and show their support. We’re glad to have kept that tradition.
Wednesday night is the nurse aid pinning ceremony for students who have completed the required courses, Thursday night is Senior Awards Night in the ACHS gym, and the week wraps up Friday with graduation, set for 7 p.m.
With Covid restrictions mostly in the rearview mirror, students were allowed 10 tickets for friends and family this year, compared to six last year.
“We limited capacity last year a little bit, and the seniors kind of liked it,” Parnell says. “We went from six to 10 [tickets] this year, and that was a decision of the senior officers.”
Parnell says this year’s class is deserving of all the recognition they receive this week.
“These students have been through a lot these past few years and we’re very proud of them,” he says. “I know they’re going to go on and do many, many great things in the future.”
The County Line’s Education page is sponsored by Campbellsville University.
