It is no secret that graduating high school students are disappointed that their final semester lacks the pomp and circumstance of a typical senior year.

The Hanover School Division is well aware of the inconveniences caused by COVID-19 and is hoping to make these final moments of high school memorable in spite of the looming pandemic. It is for this reason that staff members from each high school in the division have banded together with a special, albeit unusual, task: distributing lawn signs.

“We felt that putting some sort of indication on the front yard of every graduating student across our entire catchment area was a way we could recognize our graduates who are trying to finish their studies,” offers Thor Barkman, the SRSS Grade 12 Vice Principal.


As Barkman explains, distributing signs among the 410 SRSS graduates is no small task. The grade 12 students live in communities spanning from West Hawk to Marchand and everywhere in between. To navigate the sparse network of students, Barkman says one of his fellow staff members devised a map using Geographic Information System (GIS) technology. Similar efforts have been made by the staff of Niverville High School, Landmark Collegiate, and Green Valley School for their local graduates.

Armed with signs emblazoned with their school’s respective colors and logos, high school teachers began their rounds late Wednesday morning. In Steinbach, a motorcade of roughly 35 teachers paraded down Main Street honking their horns before dispersing to their designated communities across southeastern Manitoba.

Barkman hopes this gesture can motivate students who may be losing steam. For many, the difficulties of learning from home are dramatically compounded by the absence of personal relationships between teachers and peers. Barkman acknowledges this void and says his teachers feel it too.

“We know that high school is all about relationships whether that is in classrooms, on a sports team, or in an improv troupe. Everything that goes alongside school is cancelled right now and to have those meaningful things taken away so suddenly is a bit of a challenge.”

SRSS Principal Sherry Bestvater says the customized lawn signs are merely one small means of close that personal gap as home-based learning continues.

“It’s probably not the senior year they imagined, and we are sad for them, but we want them to know that the whole community cares about them still wants to celebrate with them.”

As the school year draws to a close, Bestvater says the school is insistent on having some kind of graduation ceremony and the event's planning is ongoing. However, she adds, what that celebration can legally look like remains to be seen.