HOUSTON COUNTY, Ga. — It's high school graduation season, and families across Central Georgia are gearing up for celebrations. As more Americans get vaccinated and the CDC updates its guidelines for safe gatherings, some districts are allowing more graduation guests -- including Houston County.
All five Houston County High Schools ceremonies will be at the Georgia National Fairgrounds Reaves Arena on Friday and Saturday, May 28 and 29.
This year, each graduate gets six tickets. All groups will be socially-distanced and the district has added 30 minutes between schools to sanitize the arena.
The graduation commencement schedule follows.
- Veterans High School, May 28, 4:00 p.m.
- Perry High School, May 28, 8:00 p.m.
- Houston County High School, May 29, 8:30 a.m.
- Northside High School, May 29, 12:30 p.m.
- Warner Robins High School, May 29, 4:30 p.m.
Emma Darveau from Houston County High is among the graduates ready to take the stage.
"I got everything we needed to get all the info out to our parents and everything so I feel like it was really nicely set up," said Darveau.
Darveau saw her siblings graduate in 2017 and 2019. She says although hers may look different, she says she's grateful.
"I feel like graduation is one of the more important milestones in your life, so the fact that our administration still put together a graduation for us, even though it's not going to be the same as it normally is, I feel like it was really important to all the kids that are graduating because I feel like they get that last final moment before they head off into the world."
For some parents, excitement is in the air, too. Shante Grane, her husband, and their other three kids will be in the crowd to cheer her son Tre on.
She says when her oldest child graduated from Northside High School in 2019 they had 20 family members in attendance.
"I have a close family, so we look forward to graduation and doing things together, so that's the only disappointing part about it -- that just everybody's just not there to celebrate in person," said Grane.
She says the pandemic has been a roller coaster, so she's thankful graduation is still on.
"I'm glad that we have six tickets, it really could've been that we didn't have a graduation. Yeah, last year, it was four tickets, so I'm glad they have made some adjustments to be able to accommodate some family because graduation is just a moment you can't get back," said Grane.
Last year's graduations were held a month late at separate stadiums in the county with a 4-ticket limit.