With COVID-19 having changed and delayed graduation ceremonies, families and friends found other ways to celebrate new graduates.
Anna Tetrault is graduating from grade 12 at Chatham-Kent Secondary School, which has moved its graduation ceremony to October.
Dover tomato farmer Adrien Pinsonneault. (Photo submitted by Anne Marie Pinsonneault)
Tetrault was helping plant tomatoes for her cousin Adrian Pinsonneault, and on the last day of planting, she noticed there were balloons and signs on the planter. However she assumed her Aunt, Anne Marie Pinsonneault, was just celebrating the final day of planting.
"As I got closer, I saw that the sign said 'Congrats Anna' on it, and people were clapping and cheering as I walked up, and there was also music playing," said Tetrault. "So I was figuring it out slowly at that point, still in shock. So then I noticed my mom in the field, my dad was pulling up to the field in his car, and my grandpa was there, so then I thought, "Ok this is it, this is a grad party for me.'"
They also decorated her seat on the planter, then came back with more surprises.
CKSS graduate Anna Tetrault. (Photo submitted by Anne Marie Pinsonneault)
"At first break, I had seen my aunt pull back up to the field and she had a graduation ice cream cake," said Tetrault. "Then my grandpa, my mom, and my dad were back to the field, and it was a second wave of shock for me just to see everyone coming back again after that."
Tetrault added that is was a strange way to end her high school career.
"I haven't really had a chance to say goodbye to high school, you know what I mean. I thought for sure we would be coming back, that we would at least have a graduation or something, but it's just crazy to think we were just done right there, and that was the end of high school."
CKSS graduate Anna Tetrault. (Photo submitted by Anne Marie Pinsonneault)
Normally Tetrault works as a summer day camp counsellor for Chatham-Kent, but since the camps aren't running this year, she is going to be a corn detasseling crew leader. In the fall she will be attending the University of Guelph, Ridgetown Campus to study Environmental Management, with plans to go into water treatment.