LCPS going virtual to highlight keepsake events for Class of ’20

Lenoir County Public Schools is headed to the internet and social media to put a virtual spotlight on Class of 2020 events that are typically touchstones for seniors wrapping up their high school career.

The parade of online activities begins Friday with Decision Day at North Lenoir and South Lenoir high schools, airing as a Facebook Live event at 11 a.m. for South Lenoir and noon for North Lenoir. Kinston High’s Decision Day, also a Facebook Live event, is scheduled for 7 p.m. on May 7.

At Decision Day, graduating seniors announce their next steps – their plans for continuing their education, enlisting in the military or joining the workforce.

A similar virtual event for graduating seniors of Lenoir County Early College High School, called Signing Day, is planned for later in May.

Senior Walks for all high schools will air as a video on May 5 and can be viewed on the high schools’ Facebook pages and websites.

Senior Walks, an exercise in nostalgia that – virtually this year because schools are closed due to the coronavirus pandemic – takes graduating seniors back to the elementary school where their LCPS education started and also serves as inspiration for current elementary students looking ahead to the days when they’ll don cap and gown.

Virtual Athletic Banquets are planned for Kinston, North Lenoir and South Lenoir high schools on May 15 and Awards Day ceremonies for the high schools will air May 22. Both events will be presented as videos for viewing on social media and on LCPS’s cable TV channel (Channel 12 on Suddenlink).

District administrators are currently working with principals of LCPS’s five high schools to shape plans for Class of 2020 commencements. What this year’s graduations will look like depends heavily on still-evolving restrictions related to the pandemic, but the district hopes to give seniors and their families a basic outline of commencement plans in the near future.