Calvary Lutheran High School will hold its graduation Sunday, making it the first school in Cole County to hold a graduation ceremony this year.
The graduation ceremony is scheduled at 3 p.m. Sunday in the school gymnasium.
Calvary Lutheran announced in April its graduation would be June 6 and that, along with other Cole County schools, it wouldn't hold large events until after May 31.
When these plans were made, it was possible the Cole County Health Department and Gov. Mike Parson's stay-at-home orders would extend through May. But when the county Health Department's order ended April 25 and Missouri's order ended May 3, the school administration decided to take advantage of the window.
"If we could do it responsibly and safely, we wanted to give the class of 2020 every opportunity to celebrate together," CLHS Executive Director John Christman said.
Cole County Health Department Director Kristi Campbell and Jefferson City Fire Department Chief Matt Schofield visited the school and suggested guidelines to follow for the graduation ceremony, Christman said.
Since the school has a small class size of 26 graduates, it is possible to hold the ceremony while social distancing, he noted.
The ceremony will be attended by invitation only, and each graduate will have between five and 11 guests, Christman said. Each family will be spaced 6 feet apart.
Christman said it will be as "low-touch of an environment as possible." Every door will be propped open, and there will be no handshakes or presentation of diplomas.
"We take this responsibility seriously - not just for our own families, but we know that we're leading the way for all of Cole County schools," he said.
If the ceremony was June 6 or later, not every graduate would be able to attend. Two graduates are enlisted in the military and scheduled to leave before then, he said.
Before deciding to change the date, Christman said, the school called each family to make sure everybody could attend.
Since Calvary Lutheran High School is the first in Cole County to hold a graduation ceremony this year, many schools have asked to speak with Christman afterward to learn from the experience and determine best practices, he said.
"We appreciate that community support that we have from them, and we're happy to share lessons learned because - it has almost become cliche - we're all in this together," he said.
Christman said he's excited the class of 2020 still gets to celebrate together.
"We know that even in the midst of all of this, there were some valuable life lessons learned," he said. "We don't want that to be lost on them, and we definitely want to be able to celebrate them. I'm happy that we're able to."