On Friday March 20 Virginia Governor Ralph Northam made the decision to close all non-essential businesses in the state to combat the spread of the COVID-19 virus. In addition to the businesses closing, he also mandated that all public and private schools be closed for the remainder of the 2019-2020 academic school year. While the physical buildings themselves have been closed, students are now taking classes at home via online studies, with many parents now stepping in place of their teachers.

For many students, this means a temporary halt on meeting with friends and their favorite educators, but for seniors who will be moving on to collegiate life in August, it’s much more than that. This will mean not being able to experience the joy of having their senior proms or walking the stage in front of adoring family and friends in June as they receive their diploma for 12 years of hard work in the classroom. Some students and parents from Woodbridge Senior High School have decided that this moment is too important to miss, and as a result they came together to petition the Prince William County School Board for a 2020 graduation ceremony.

When we spoke with one of the students as to why they felt the need to create this petition, they told the PW Perspective in a recent interview, “We all deserve to have our final goodbye to high school and the graduation we worked too hard for all these years.”

We also asked them that in spite of the challenging odds how they are gaining support from parents and other students. “We almost have all of the signatures that we need, and honestly anyone that signs up helps us.”

If you would like to support the Woodbridge seniors in their efforts to have a graduation ceremony, please sign the petition here.