BOZEMAN — Do you remember your high school graduation? You might not remember all the little details, but you probably remember being surrounded by loved ones.
“There are going to be 5,000, maybe, total people in the stadium that day. I want 5,000 smiles at once,” said Bozeman High School principal Dan Mills.
And Principal Mills is one step closer to that as officials lifted the number of guests graduates can have at graduation.
“With the local guidelines and the CDC restrictions being lessened a little bit, we were able to talk to MSU and MSU’s been very gracious and they said we’d think it'd be fine to allow unlimited guests,” explained Principal Mills.
Something many parents will be happy about as some expressed their concern for the limited number during Monday’s school board meeting.
“I’m just already seeing in the parent community people really stressing and begging for tickets if anyone has any extra because grandparents, cousins, even other siblings are being left behind,” a concerned parent said during public comment.
But officials were already working on the issue ahead of Monday’s meeting.
“I totally appreciate where parents are coming from, so we had heard some of those comments all along. You know, during the board meeting that hadn’t been finalized yet. In a perfect world, I could have unmuted myself and say, hey we have this in the works! But we wanted to make sure of it before we announced it,” said Principal Mills.
But there are still a couple of safety procedures put in place for the big day.
“Graduates themselves will be seated 6 feet apart on the field. I’ve asked families and the groups that are coming together as households as family that if they could please sit separately from each other by at least 6 feet," he explained.
And masks are asked to be worn during certain times, but like he said, Principal Mills wants to see smiles.
“I want it to be sunny outside and I want to see their smiles in the sunshine,” he said.
Graduation is June 6, starting at 11 a.m.
