UNION COUNTY â The poll results surprised La Grande High School Principal Brett Baxter.
The school surveyed seniors about what type of graduation ceremony they would like. The vast majority indicated they wanted a traditional one in their gym, Baxter said.
The studentsâ wishes will be granted June 5 at at 10 a.m. when a traditional graduation ceremony will start in the LHS gym. The commencement ceremony will be possible because of Union Countyâs falling COVID-19 infection rates, which now has the county in the lower risk category, meaning small crowds can gather indoors.
Holding a commencement ceremony a year ago in a gym was off limits. Union County had a higher infection rate and like other counties was operating under more stringent state COVID-19 safety restrictions. This forced all Union County high schools to conduct vehicle-centric graduation ceremonies. La Grande High held a drive-thru commencement where students received their diplomas in vehicles with thei
LA GRANDE â La Grande High School alum Kathy Rudd recently made a startling discovery â her schoolâs history is vanishing.
Rudd, with the help of Eric Freeman, the schoolâs assistant principal, was examining framed collections of LHS graduating class photos from 1924 to 2001. All had been taken down from the walls near the schoolâs main entrance so their condition could be examined. Rudd, a 1969 La Grande High graduate, found 33 picture frames present and 23 missing.
The good news is La Grande Highâs extensive yearbook collection will help fill a big part of the graduate photo void.
The school has yearbooks for 18 of the years the senior photo collections are missing. Rudd and Freeman plan to make copies of the photos of the seniors in those 18 annuals and put them in frames for their class so they can be on display at the school.
LA GRANDE â The hallways and classrooms of La Grande High School are coming back to life.
Students returned to the high school for in-person instruction Thursday, Jan. 28 â the first time since mid-March of 2020 when the state closed all schools due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Changing state metrics for COVID-19 helped open the doors to real classrooms as opposed to virtual ones. The metrics also allowed in-person instruction to start again for students in grades seven and eight on Wednesday at La Grande Middle School. The districtâs kindergarten through sixth-grade students have been receiving in-person instruction since earlier this month.