The graduation ceremony for Somerset Island Prep charter high school on May 26 was, quite possibly, the first of its kind.
In order to maintain social distancing while still celebrating the achievements of the 11 members of the Class of 2020, graduates took to WaveRunners and throttled out to a boat, where Principal Tom Rompella — and their diplomas — waited.
Fury Water Adventures provided the waverunners and “diploma boat,” along with in-water helpers for the few Key West kids who weren’t overly familiar or comfortable with that particular mode of transportation. Each graduate donned a life jacket under their maroon gowns and waded out to the waiting WaveRunners while friends and relatives cheered from a nearby pier.
Valedictorian Verity Pond secured her graduation cap over her curly hair and smiled widely beneath her COVID-19 mask, still a requirement for the socially distant, but entirely fun, ceremony.
The Class of 2020 was the first to graduate from Somerset Island Prep, which opened last year on Flagler Avenue, near Key West High School. The school curriculum enables some students, including Pond, simultaneously to obtain their high school diploma and college associate’s degree.
Congratulations to graduates Bryan Abril, Johnathan Albury, Sergio Castellanos, Alyssa Fisher, Chase Floyd, Ernesto Killion, Robert Miller, Luis Perez-Lopez, Verity Pond, Tiago Rodriguez and Kevin Shirley.
