Story - The Meade County Messenger

Vol. 113, No. 22

May 31, 2006

Brandenburg High School Class of 2005-2006 graduates despite the storm

Photos by Sandra Stone
Brandenburg High School principal Bob Schrader congratulated his graduates following a ceremony shortened by foul weather and power outages. Now in its sixth year, Brandenburg High School offers an alternative to dropping out for students for whom a traditional school day is not a good fit.

By Sandra Stone
Messenger Staff

Severe thunderstorm warnings and power outages couldn’t prevent the graduates of Brandenburg High School from taking their hard-earned walk May 25 or their friends and family from coming out in droves to witness the occasion. There was little pomp and less-than-favorable circumstance, but the important part of the graduation ceremony – the awarding of diplomas – was achieved after some logistical maneuvering and a change of venue.

The graduation was set to take place in the Meade County High School gymnasium, a decision prompted by last year’s standing room only crowd in the media center. The band had taken its place on the stage and was preparing to play “Pomp and Circumstance” for the graduates’ processional.

As if on cue, with the first strains of the traditional graduation song, the lights went out. The band waited patiently for direction. The guests waited patiently for the ceremony to begin. The graduates waited anxiously in the hallway. And school administrators bustled about trying to figure out how to get enough power on to have a graduation ceremony.

After a few false starts, it became apparent the emergency backup power wouldn’t be enough. So it was off to the gym at James R. Allen Primary School. The graduates carried in their own chairs and set them up then returned to the hallway to make their grand entrance. The guests milled about, waiting for the bleachers to be opened so they could be seated. There wasn’t enough power to do even that, so they gathered in a loose semicircle for the big moment.

And then it happened. In a gym lit solely by emergency lights, the graduates finally took their walk to receive their congratulatory handshake and diploma from Brandenburg High School principal Bob Schrader and Meade County school superintendent Mitch Crump.

Schrader grinned and shook hands and embraced his students, many of whom have faced a myriad of hardships and juggled work and family obligations on the road to a high school diploma. “I can guarantee,” he said, ‘there won’t be another graduation in Kentucky quite like this one.”

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