This story is published on Columbia Missourian.
Rain did not stop the graduation ceremony for Frederick Douglass High School.
The pandemic did not stop the graduates of the class of 2020 from getting their diplomas, either.
Originally, the ceremony was scheduled to be held on the front lawn at Douglass High School. Due to the wet weather, the ceremony was held inside the Hickman High School Auditorium.
Debra O'Neal said she was both apprehensive and scared to attend this special ceremony with masks and social distancing requirements.
Her son, Blake Ramey, 18, is one of the graduates there, who was once interested in sports.
O‘Neal said her son hurt his back when he was 15. Since then, he could not do sports and was passive in doing anything. He transferred among a couple of high schools, and finally attended Douglass High School and got a diploma.
The parents said they kept encouraging their son, talking to him a lot.
"He just doesn't listen," O‘Neal said. But she believes that he will finally understand them, "He becomes more mature and now works part-time at (Columbia) Activity & Recreation Center."
Bob Kelley, the pastor at LifeRock Church, attended the ceremony for his friend's son, Gregory McSwain.
Kelley met McSwain's mom, Angelia Stewart, in 2001. He gave a ride home to Stewart after she gave birth to McSwain at the hospital.
Stewart passed away five or six years ago because of breast cancer. Kelley said she was always a role model for her children and people around her.
As a single mother, she had to take care of six children in total, including three from her murdered sister, Kelley said.
"She loved the joy and satisfaction that came from working on a job. She said that while working, she even lost her government-provided insurance because her income had risen," Kelley said.
She told Kelley, "Pastor, I could actually make more money sitting at home and drawing a check from the government, but my kids need to see me going to work every day, and especially my boys. They need to see me getting up and going to work."
Kelley said Stewart inspired her son a lot. He is happy to see him graduate and wants to congratulate McSwain for his accomplishment, he said.
There were 75 graduates this year and Dr. Eryca Neville, principal of Douglass High School, said the number was almost the same compared to recent years. Around 200 people attended the commencement.
Graduates went on stage to accept the diplomas. At the end of the ceremony, Neville asked them to rise from their chairs.
As they stood up, they were surrounded by camera flashes, applause and cheers. They were the focus of the auditorium at that moment.
"This year has required that we be courageous, apply critical thinking skills, dig deep into our creativity, use technology in new and innovative ways, value and honor the needs of the common good above the wants of the individual and most of all, to rethink what we consider 'normal' to be," Neville said in the speech for the commencement.
"This pandemic does not define you. But it should remind and compel you to value and cherish life, to celebrate the moments, and to always be your best self," she told the graduates.
Janeth Alulea, 18, said she wants to thank all the teachers helping with her studies. "They reminded me to do the online assignments," she said.
Sierra Bilderback, 18, said she technically graduated before the pandemic, and she was excited to be able to attend the ceremony eventually.
Jaheim Dudley, another graduate, said he feels surprised that he managed to graduate. He said he did bad at school a couple of years ago, and transferred from Hickman High School to Douglass High School.
"One of the challenges for me is to get into a routine of school work. When you get into high school, you really need to focus on study," he said. Dudley said he became more grown-up during the process and finally got used to it.
Both Alulea and Dudley plan to attend college in the future.
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