MCMINN COUNTY, Tenn. — In McMinn County, seniors graduated in a modified ceremony in the school's gym on Saturday; but about a dozen students were upset with the graduation plans. Instead of attending the ceremony, they protested outside the gates.
They said they deserved better and wanted a ceremony on the football field instead.
"We aren't doing it in a rude way," McMinn County senior and protest organizer Presley Webb said. "We just simply want to have our voices and opinions expressed."
About a dozen seniors gathered outside at the time they would be walking through the gym to get their diploma. They instead had a stand-in protest outside the gates to show their disappointment in the ceremony decision.
"We've listened to them for so long, so now it's really time for them to listen to us and just listen to us and hear us about what we have to say," Jalen Sharp, senior and protest organizer explained.
They wanted to have the ceremony on the football field like in prior years, but just a few weeks ago the school district nixed that plan.
Director of Schools Lee Parkison said the rise in COVID-19 cases worked against their original plans.
"We were worried about safety and we were worried about massive crowds," Parkison said. "We felt this was the best way to keep the community safe and still have graduation."
Parkison said the district waited to have a graduation ceremony until the end of July, hoping they could have a special moment on the field, but the backup plan is what they had to go with.
"We didn't want it this way and we do hurt for them because they've spent 13 years in school and they deserve to have the best, but in this time and in this climate we feel like this is the best that we can do," Parkison said.
Six groups of 60 students came to the school at different times. They walked across a stage in the gym with a few family members close by.
The parents at McMinn County High School are planning their own graduation ceremony for the seniors next Wednesday, after McMinn Central High School did something similar this week.
The parents hope the customized event at a nearby park will help the seniors close the chapter of high school properly and enable them to move on to the next phase of life with a feeling of accomplishment.