During the COVID-19 pandemic, graduates have been hit really hard. Graduates won’t have a prom or a graduating ceremony this year.
Thats why The Thames Valley Council of Home and School Associations (TVCHSA), along with London Ward 2 Councillor Shawn Lewis and Thames Valley District School Board (TVDSB) Trustee Corrine Rahman, came together to create “Go Gold For Grads”. On June 25, families, businesses and everyone are invited to light up and decorate your home and business to recognize the graduates in our community.
Laura Gonzalez, the President for TVCHSA said that they want they want students to know the sacrifices graduates had to go through during the COVID-19 pandemic won’t go unnoticed.
“Our goal is to bring the community together and let our graduates know how proud we are with what they accomplished,” she said. “We want to show graduates from all over thames valley that the sacrifices they had to make during the COVID-19 pandemic won’t go unnoted.”
Gonzalez when asked why not wait until the pandemic is over said that they didn’t want to the end of the school year, unrecognized.
“We didn’t want the full school year to go, unrecognized,” she said. ” Some grade 12’s who are going to post-secondary might be also moving out of their communities before this pandemic ends”.
This idea came together when Councillior Shawn Lewis started discussing the possibillity with students during a Facebook live civics class.
“Having done a Facebook Live Civics Class with students, what started as, could we do something at City Hall to celebrate graduations, discussion with Trustee Rahman and quickly became a what could we do in communities across the school board” Lewis says.
Fanshawe College, Western University, The City of London, the Municipality of Thames Centre, Tourism London, Local area MPs and MPPs, are just some of the businesses who have signed on to participate, with the intention of more residents and businesses participating.
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