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WILKES-BARRE &mdash; Sticking as close to tradition as possible in the nontraditional time of a pandemic, Wilkes-Barre Area School District posted virtual graduation ceremonies one after another for Meyers, Coughlin and GAR Memorial high schools Friday.
				The formats varied slightly. All three included videos of seniors crossing the stages of their respective schools and picking up a diploma case, but the video at GAR panned back and forth to catch the student walking up the steps and to the table. The other two had cameras in fixed positions. Because the old Coughlin auditorium was gutted in anticipation of demolition that never happened, students walked across the smaller stage of the gym/cafeteria/auditorium of the Mackin building, where two grades now attend classes following the closure of the old section of Coughlin high.
				All three schools shot the videos previously, allowing one student and two parents or guardians inside to take photos and watch, but otherwise keeping the auditoriums empty. The district edited them together.
				At Coughlin and Meyers, the students picked up a diploma case that was reused. The GAR video showed the traditional stacks of diplomas on a table that slowly depleted.
				GAR also included a clip of the school&rsquo;s traditional &ldquo;Faculty Honor Guard,&rdquo; with teachers in robes walking through the auditorium doors and down the aisle toward the stage.
				Meyers opted for a solo piano version of &ldquo;Pomp and Circumstance,&rdquo; and no added sound effects, while GAR and Coughlin included applause and even some crowd yells. Students were also recorded singing the national anthem and each school&rsquo;s alma mater, some on stage and some at home.
				The traditional speeches were also recorded, though they touched on unique situations. Myers Salutatorian Lydia McFarlane spoke of taking the pandemic problems of their senior year in a positive light. &ldquo;Difficulties are meant to rouse, not discourage,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;We must not allow the situation to defer our dreams.&rdquo;
				&ldquo;Do not allow obstacles to define who you are,&rdquo; Principal Robert Watkins said, &ldquo;You all adapted and overcame.&rdquo;
				Superintendent Brian Costello recorded a speech for all three videos, quoting Michael Jordan &ldquo;Obstacles don&rsquo;t have to stop you,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;If you run into a wall, don&rsquo;t turn around and give up. If you can&rsquo;t figure out how to climb it, go around it, or through it.&rdquo;
				Meyers valedictorian Sara Morris didn&rsquo;t dance around the reality. &ldquo;Standing on this stage alone without my class, it doesn&rsquo;t feel right. But if there is one thing I&rsquo;ve learned about us, the class of 2020, it&rsquo;s that we are strong.&rdquo;
				Coughlin valedictorian Lauren Dudeck ran through the big changes the class of 2020 endured at that school, with students split between two building, the consolidation of three seperate high school athletic systems into a single &ldquo;Wolfpack,&rdquo; and the unexpected closing of schools in March of their senior year. &ldquo;The fact of the matter is that none of this ever stopped us. We pushed forward.&rdquo;
				GAR class president Melanie Garcia-Morel quoted Maya Angelou. &ldquo;I encourage you to live with life. Be courageous, adventurous. Give us a tomorrow, more than we deserve.&rdquo;
				And GAR valedictorian Zuleima Mero quoted Oprah Winfrey on the value of resilience forced by the pandemic. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s vital that you learn, and we all learn, to be at peace with the discomfort of stepping into the unknown.&rdquo;

WB Area posts virtual graduations for all three high schools