Monday 20 / January / 2025
Muscat: Schools are organising drive-thru graduation ceremonies for their students, who cannot attend the event on the premises, because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Although the COVID-19 pandemic has kept schools closed since March, it has not stopped students from continuing their education or experiencing their graduation.
The restrictions on large gatherings means that graduation ceremonies have been different from others before them: virtual or drive-thru.
The graduation ceremony that traditionally takes place in a large indoor space with graduates walking across a stage to accept their certificates, has been uniquely and creatively re-designed by Knowledge Gate International School.
KGIS Executive Principal, Liz Stanley said: “We wanted to make sure that our students’ successes were properly acknowledged and celebrated. The graduating class of 2021 will absolutely go down in history with the majority of their senior years being dominated by a global pandemic.
But rather than being victims of this pandemic, they have emerged triumphant and resilient, they have conquered every challenge that they have faced and have shown that they are the most skilled problem solvers.
“They have worked tirelessly to ensure that they gain the university places they deserve, and to deliver what promise to be the best examination results in the history of the school,” she added.
“As a result of the pandemic, the Class of 2021 go out into the world better equipped to navigate life beyond school better than any of their predecessors.”
At the ceremony, students and their families line up in rows of well-spaced vehicles in front of the main stage set up on the roof top car park at the Crowne Plaza (OCEC), set against the stunning backdrop of the Muscat skyline. Families decorated their cars, waved flags and held signs congratulating their offspring.
The main ceremony was preceded by a drive by parade with students standing out of sunroofs as school staff and hotel guests clapped and cheered. The full ceremony was live-streamed so that families could see and hear everything from the comfort and safety of their own vehicles maintaining appropriate social distancing from others.
One by one the students, dressed in traditional gowns and caps with the addition of their face mask, left their car to receive their certificates to the cheers of encouragement from their relatives. They greeted the School Principal and Head of Secondary from a safe distance and had their photo taken before returning to their vehicle.
The evening ended with a box of refreshments being delivered to each car before pyrotechnic fireworks lit up the sky in a finale.
Stanley added, “We considered running a virtual graduation but after speaking to our students it became clear that togetherness was the most important thing to them. They wanted the opportunity to celebrate with their friends and family in a safe but exciting way and this is exactly where the drive-thru concept came from.”
Integral to the huge success of the event, and the development of the drive-thru concept was the team at the Crowne Plaza Hotel itself, working in collaboration with Titan Events & Entertainment to plan and deliver the ceremony.
Crowne Plaza General Manager, Adam Deverson said, “By working in partnership with KGIS to reimagine the traditional student graduation ceremony, Crowne Plaza Muscat OEOC is both proud and excited to restructure our facilities in order to support the school’s unique and innovative concept here in Muscat.”
