Pell River Primary hosts graduation motorcade

For some students and parents living in the communities of Pell River in Lucea, and Caudwell in Green Island, Hanover, it was like Christmas coming early yesterday.

That's because acting principal of the Pell River Primary School, Shereen Clarke, and her administrative team hosted a graduation motorcade, for the Primary Exit Profile students.

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced the closure of schools, and due to social-distancing orders, schools across the island were unable to carry out traditional graduation exercises.

"Today, we are hosting our social-distancing graduation in the form of a drive-thru graduation or what you would call a motorcade graduation, and because we have not seen our students for over three months, and they are about to leave us, we decided to make this a memorable moment for them," Clarke said.

Help of past students

She added that with the help of past students, business operators, and others, they were able to make the event happen by assembling the motorcade and took the entire graduation exercise to the communities where the 22 graduates reside.

Dozens of happy parents were seen in a jubilant mood as the Pell River graduation motorcade stopped off at the gates in the countryside, and the students were presented with certificates, gift packages, and cash incentives.

"All our students had good exam passes but Jadan Irving, and Christian Bernard did exceptionally well, and each student scored over 300 points, and have earned a space in The Manning's School and Rusea's High, respectively," said Clarke.

The parents did not miss out on the fun, as they all got dressed up with their children and met up with the motorcade at their gates, while taking photos and participating in prize-giving moments, as if they were at a real graduation venue.

Janett Miller, told THE WEEKEND STAR that her daughter would also be going to Manning's, and she was so overjoyed to hear of the motorcade graduation, that she cried.

Another parent, Andrea Dehaney, said her daughter has passed for Herbert Morrison Technical High School, and she is so overjoyed at the gesture made by Pell River Primary, especially in light of some of the hardships parents go through each day to send the children to school.