Richmond County Hosts Unique Grad Celebration

RICHMOND COUNTY – The lingering memories of a unique graduation celebration took on a bittersweet feeling for its organizers and participants in mid-July, when Nova Scotia Education Minister Zach Churchill announced a plan for the re-opening of public schools in September.

The news came just a few weeks after local parents joined forces with their MLA to help deliver a unique year-end celebration that may just resurface after the COVID-19 era winds down.

Spurred on by a suggestion from Cape Breton-Richmond MLA Alana Paon, parents Brandie Pottie of Cap-Auguet and Carolann Wilson of St. Peter’s coordinated the first-ever Richmond Grad Procession for June 27. The event saw a combined 34 graduates from two Richmond County schools carried by vehicle through several communities between Petit de Grat and the St. Peter’s Canal, where the students left their vehicles in their caps and gowns and gathered for a group photo and a scaled-down graduation procession.

Thirty-two of the participating students graduated from the English-language Richmond Academy in Louisdale, which falls under the jurisdiction of the Strait Regional Centre for Education (SRCE). The other two students had attended Ecole Beau-Port in Arichat, a French-language school overseen by the Conseil Scolaire Acadien Provincial (CSAP).

Pottie and Wilson had many people to thank when the event wound down, including several Richmond County businesses and other sponsors that donated funds to the Richmond Grad Procession but also decorated their storefronts and other public spaces with signs congratulating the graduates as they made their way through the county.

The organizers were also amazed at the support shown by Richmond County residents, whether or not they knew the graduates in the individual vehicles. Even during a late-afternoon rainstorm, many people lined the streets through such communities as Louisdale, Grand Anse, River Bourgeois and St. Peter’s to wave signs and balloons, bang on pots and pans, and cheer on the students finishing their high school education in the county.

While the Richmond Grad Procession was organized in response to the shutdown of county schools due to the COVID-19 pandemic this past spring, Wilson and Pottie both suggested that the event could find its way into future graduation celebrations, as it marked the first time that the county’s communities were fully invested in honouring their students.

Organizers also expressed hope that the pending re-opening of county schools in September will feature the same resilience that the Class of 2020 have shown in completing their education under the adverse circumstances of the past year.