The parade started at the school at 6 p.m. and took a route throughout the Southwestern district before ending back at the school. Southwestern School District Superintendent Maureen Donahue said this style of the parade evolved out of the pandemic.

“We’ve always done some level of a parade during the school day,” Donahue said. “During the pandemic last year, we did it through the community as an alternative.”

Donahue said the popularity of the event is what made the district host a community parade again this year as opposed to one during the school day.

“People loved it,” Donahue said. “So we brought it back again this year. It was an event started in the pandemic that people really liked.”

Participants in Southwestern’s senior parade decorated their cars to recognize this year’s graduating class. The parade started at the school and followed a route throughout the school district so community members could witness the procession of cars, firetrucks, buses and police cars.

The parade allowed community members to watch as students in the senior class drove past in the procession. Members of the Lakewood-Busti police and fire departments were also be part of the parade.

Donahue said Southwestern students, especially seniors, have been “resilient” throughout the past year of the pandemic.

“They’ve been flexible and they’ve moved forward,” Donahue said. “We’ve been doing this for 16 months. It’s been hard but we’ve learned, and the (parade) is just another way to honor their success.”

See PARADE, Page A3

From Page A1

The Southwestern School District is also looking forward to an in-person graduation ceremony. The ceremony is set for 7 p.m. today at the athletic complex.

“We still need to be cautious,” Donahue said, “but we’re able to have eight people per family. Our kids are going to be together, our families are going to be together, our staff is going to be together — we’re just thrilled. We’re going to celebrate our seniors.”

“If I had to pick one word to describe (our seniors), I would say resilient,” Donahue added. “They haven’t always been happy about some of the decisions, but they’ve never ever given up.”