CAYCE, S.C. — Seniors at Brookland-Cayce High School were able to pick up their caps and gowns through a pickup service as precautions to the coronavirus.
COVID-19 has cancelled many events with huge gatherings. That includes schools.
Under the latest order from South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster, schools in the state are now closed until at least April 30th.
Khai Truong is a senior at the school. He says he's been looking forward to graduation.
"I'm definitely excited to be graduating but you know that really hits you with that cap and gown, that it's starting to get to the end of the year and everything's kind of getting wrapped up but then we have this whole situation with schools being out," said Truong.
The senior says the school has been doing a great job of making sure he and other students are getting an education while they're having to stay at home.
He says it's been a big adjustment not being to spend time with his classmates and teachers in the classroom.
"I was really planning to have graduation and prom. Teachers and all the administration has promised that we're going to be doing something with that but even with my regular classes, I'm kind of bummed out just because I miss that sort of classroom engagement that we have with teachers and students that really got you through the day, helps you work off one another," explained Truong.
Lexington School District Two wanted to make sure seniors got to experience the ritual of being able to pick up their cap and gown.
In order to do that, Jostens had a drive-thru pickup at Brookland-Cayce on Friday.
Students would arrive at the school, staff would get their bags together and then place them in the backseat of cars.
The district said in an email, "While spring is often an exciting time for soon-to-be-graduates, it's bittersweet that the area's seniors are not spending these last few weeks in high school together. Still, picking up a cap and gown is a sense of normalcy in an otherwise unusual time."
Truong thinks it's great the district is trying to make sure that seniors don't miss out on all the experiences. He also thinks it's amazing how much help every student is getting during this time.
"Even with other things, they understand not every student will have every resource that they'll need for education so they're going around giving out food, resources, the iPads that they need," explained Truong. "That's something I can really appreciate."