Students at Battle Creek Central have graduation on wheels

Graduating seniors at Battle Creek Central High School should have received their diplomas Friday as they walked across a stage.

Instead, because of the pandemic, they stood in their yards or on porches as a caravan of cars passed each of their homes and teachers and staff shouted good wishes.

Lauren LeClear, 18, was dressed in her cap and gown on the front yard of her home near Fairhome Avenue and Winter Street as about 25 cars passed.

"It would have been nice to be at the ceremony and with my whole family screaming at me," she said. "It is kind of disappointing. But this made me feel special."

For close to 14 hours, as many as 50 vehicles with teachers and staff drove past the homes of 187 graduating seniors because they were not able to hold their scheduled commencement.

"We knew we wanted to do something to make this special for the seniors," said Autumn Felder, special education teacher consultant at Central and one of the organizers of the first ever Senior Car Parade.

She said some schools, closed because of the coronavirus, have had students drive past as a substitute celebration but Felder said not all students at Central have access to vehicles.

"So we thought we would bring it to them and show that we love and care about them and are sad that this is the way it ended but we are here to celebrate on a day that should have been their graduation anyway."

With signs, balloons and slogans on their cars and pickup trucks, the teachers began the parade at 7:30 a.m. Friday with a trip to Bellevue, Ceresco and Union City where some students live because they attend Central through schools of choice.

Then throughout the day, through rain showers in the morning and bright sunshine in the afternoon, they traveled up and down city streets in Springfield and Battle Creek honking at students, many standing outside in their cap and gowns and with family members and decorations in their yards.

Kataviona Bryant, 18, is headed to Ferris State to study engineering and admitted she was disappointed not to have a high school graduation ceremony.

"I am disappointed but then again I am not," she said because she was celebrating with about two dozen family and friends who were on the lawn on East Michigan Avenue. They had balloons and decorations and a tent for food and they all stood along the curb as the caravan passed.

"We are still having a positive effect on Covid 19," she said. "It is not all bad.

"The parade is great and now we get to do something together,"  she said.

Felder said she and other committee members gathered addresses for all graduating seniors and then began plotting where they live and planning a route.

"We drove it and figured out what would work and what wouldn't work," she said.

She was not sure about the miles but said it was going to be a 14-hour day and it took 40 to 60 hours to plan the event. The school liaison officer, Corporal Damon Young, helped the caravan through some intersections as it wove through neighborhoods.

"The staff was really enthused about doing this," Felder said. "We want a real graduation We want to do whatever we can for them but at the end of the day we want to have all the rites of passage everyone else gets. It's not fair that they don't get to walk the stage or have a prom.

"They don't get all the regular things that everyone else has gotten. I hate that this is what we have to do but I am happy that we can do it. We can't do what we normally do for them but were are doing what we can for them."

Osiris Guy, 18, was in his cap and gown and with family and friends at the corner of Post Avenue and Caine Street as the caravan passed, honking and waving, as he smiled and waved back.

"I wanted to have a real graduation," he said. "But this made up for it a little.

"Its not like the real thing, from what I believe."

Contact Trace Christenson at 269-966-0685 or tchrist@battlecreekenquirer.com. Follow him on Twitter: @TSChristenson