Seniors,

I know finishing your senior year through online learning and missing fun, memory-making events is extremely disappointing. We want you to know that we will organize some type of celebration to honor you when we are allowed. I too was looking forward to graduation and shaking all of your hands on stage, as you were freshmen when I started at Nease, so this class is special to me. You have all contributed to Nease's legacy over the last 4 years with your amazing school spirit, commitment to academics, and your desire to perform on the athletic fields. You are an amazing group of young people, who have bright futures ahead of you. Please don't let the ending of this school year overshadow all of the wonderful memories that you have at Nease.

I have received a lot of questions and I have hesitated in answering some, because I don't have all the answers, which bothers me. Waiting for information is hard for me too, as I am the type of person who likes to have everything planned and organized. Below I have written what I know at this time. I promise to share information as soon as I receive it.

Graduation
  • UNF told Mr. Forson we could not hold graduation in May or at a later date in the summer.
  • Not knowing what is happening with COVID-19, Mr. Forson made the announcement that all schools will hold a virtual graduation.
  • The district has signed a contract with a company that creates virtual graduations for universities, so the video will be professionally created.
  • The video still allows us to customize with our own traditions and graduation speeches.
  • Soon (around a week or so) students will receive an email with directions on uploading a picture for the virtual ceremony. I will definitely let you know when to look for the email, because there will be a deadline for submitting your photo.
  • The virtual graduation will be streamed at our scheduled graduation date and time - Friday, May 22nd at 7pm.

Caps & Gowns
  • We use a rental gown for graduation, so Joston's has ordered a keeper gown for every senior who had placed their order for a cap & gown. The keeper gown, cap & tassel will be mailed to your house the week of April 20th. This will allow you to take a picture in your cap & gown to submit for the virtual graduation.
  • The keeper gown will be yours to keep.


GradBash
  • All of the money that we collect for GradBash goes to Universal Studios and charter buses.
  • Universal requires that we go through a tour company for booking dates, tickets and charter buses.
  • Last week we submitted a letter to Universal and the tour company requesting a refund since we had to cancel due to COVID-19. Ms. Hurst followed up today, but we are waiting on a response.
  • Until the tour company receives a refund from Universal and we receive a refund from the tour company, we (Nease) have no money to refund. We will keep you updated on the status of our request.

Senior Dues
  • The $55 standard graduation fee charged to seniors covers rental of UNF, security, programs, diplomas, diploma covers, etc.
  • The upgraded $75 fee (extra $20) included senior t-shirt, assembly & picnic. (We will refund the assembly & picnic portion of this extra $20 at a future date.)
  • We will have the cost of the virtual graduation, diplomas, diploma covers, programs and our senior celebration whenever it is allowed to happen.
  • Until we know all of our costs, we can't determine a dollar amount to refund.
  • We will provide a partial refund at a later date.

Honor Cords
  • Cords for honor societies and career academies will still be ordered.
  • Not sure about distributing these yet - depends upon if/when we return to school.

Miscellaneous
  • We will still print a program for graduation that will list all names.

If you have questions that I have not answered, please email me and I will start a list for next week's Panther Press.

LAST DAY OF SCHOOL FOR SENIORS IS STILL Tuesday, May 12th.

Please join the Remind group if you have not already done so…text @9bdfbf8 to 81010

Seniors, join the Class of 2020 Schoology group for easy access to senior class information. The Schoology access code is: 3X7B-KCXN-32JZZ