WATSONVILLE—For the first time in Pajaro Valley Unified School District history, the stadiums, athletic fields and auditoriums that traditionally fill with cheers, tears and the nostalgic strains of “Pomp and Circumstance” will stay silent this graduation season, all to be replaced by the electronic glow of computers, smartphones and tablets.
On June 5, starting at 9:30am, the district’s 1,179 graduates and their families can log onto pvusd2020.com for a district-wide commencement kickoff, followed by individualized ceremonies on one of seven high school sites.
Speeches from administrators, valedictorians and salutatorians will all be pre-recorded.
The massive digital undertaking comes thanks to Watsonville’s Digital Nest and Soquel-based Bees2Biz, a tech company that is creating the platform on which the online graduation ceremonies for seven schools will run.
“We really appreciate that the graduation platform developer is a small local company, and they were able to jump into this huge workload,” said Digital NEST Business Programs Director Alexandra Navarro—who is heading up the virtual graduation.
Also as part of the event, the students will all get personalized digital yearbooks, which could include messages from friends, teachers and parents.
To participate, go to pvusd2020.com at 9:30am on June 5.
