JISD’s Early College Academy holds virtual commencement

The year, unpredictable. The event, nervous excitement. The emotion, happiness.

That’s how Judson Early College Academy Principal Dr. Josephine Juarez described the past school year and Friday’s livestream of the school’s 2020 Graduation Commencement Virtual Ceremony, which she viewed from her home in Boerne.

“There’s just an overwhelming sense of accomplishment right now,” Juarez said. “I know they (students and staff) needed closure, but I think it gave them a step in the right direction.”

Gov. Greg Abbott on April 17 ordered all Texas schools to close for the rest of the school year because of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

In a April 29 letter sent district wide, Judson Independent School District Superintendent Jeanette Ball announced the cancellation of spring graduation ceremony efforts and told of the “very difficult decision that was made” to proceed with a virtual graduation for all five of its high schools.

First up was JECA.

All speaking roles, from JECA class president and valedictorian, to Juarez and JISD Board President Renee Paschall, were taped last week in the span of two hours.

“I was nervous because we were the first school to have the virtual ceremony,” Juarez said after watching the commencement. “We’re used to a lot of firsts at JECA, but not like this.

“We were excited but very nervous watching … because we hadn’t seen the final product. We only saw the parts that we recorded. We didn’t see the Color Guard, or the National Anthem, as they were being taped. It’s good it all came together,” she said.

This was a graduation ceremony without the traditional processional, students crossing the stage after receiving diplomas, and the traditional tossing of caps. But Juarez offered a different view she shared with her student.

“I told them … everything you’ve done for the last month and a half, you’re making history,” she said. “Nobody’s ever going to be able to say they’ve done this before. You were the first to be ‘virtual graduates.’”

When standing behind JECA’s virtual podium, JISD and JECA administrators and students spoke not to their fellow students and hundreds of family, friends and well-wishers seated in the hall, but to an audience of two — Deputy Superintendent of Teaching and Learning Rebecca Robinson and department secretary Deborah Menshew.

Class Valedictorian Duy Ha spoke of the camaraderie that JECA’s graduates share that was absent from the ceremony.

“It turns out I would much rather be speaking to a large crowd, at least because, with my classmates in attendance, I can speak to the people whom I have shared the past years with,” Ha said. “It’s a level of comfort I have missed since Spring Break.

“I may not have interacted with everybody on a daily basis, but I miss the shared feelings of camaraderie and mutual struggle,” he added.

Admission to JECA meant attending college courses as 15, 16 and 17-year-olds at Northeast Lakeview College, which Ha alluded to in his speech.

“We took this road because it meant a chance at a brighter tomorrow,” he said. “By opening JECA’s doors, we discovered the limitless potential within ourselves for growth and success and we made the most of it through unwavering will power.”

Juarez said the half-dozen students that took part in the graduation ceremony performed admirably without a crowd present.

“I think our kids were too busy enjoying the moment because they got to see each other,” the principal said. The half-dozen students had not been together on campus since March 6, prior to their March 9-13 Spring Break.

“Even though it was only a handful of them, I did not hear them complain at all. It did them some good to have each other there, if only for an hour or two,” she added.

“Our kids have gone through a pandemic, and yet we were able to have a student land a Gates Scholarship,” she said. “We had our first athletic scholarship awarded this year. All of our graduates were accepted for admission to University of Incarnate Word. One of our graduates received $3.4 million in scholarships by himself, with $121 million in scholarships, in total, earned by this class.”

May 15 had been set as JECA’s graduation date when the Judson board adopted the school calendar last spring. Juarez holds out hope that a late summer stadium or auditorium graduation ceremony can be scheduled.

Judson ISD’s three larger high schools will livestream their virtual commencement ceremonies on May 23: Judson at 9 a.m., Veterans Memorial at 2:30 p.m. and Wagner at 7:30 p.m. The Judson Learning Academy will stream its ceremony at 7 p.m. on May 28.

All ceremonies are accessible at the Judson ISD website at judsonisd.org.