FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PHILADELPHIA, PA - 20/20 Visual Media has teamed with several area high schools to help bring graduation to its students.
Because of the coronavirus, and the CDC guidelines for social distancing that followed, traditional graduation ceremonies will not take place as we’re used to this spring. Many high schools, colleges, and universities in the greater Philadelphia area immediately began making alternative plans, and several have decided on a video graduation event.
20/20 Visual Media has worked in tandem with several area high schools, including Owen J. Roberts in Chester County, Lansdale Catholic in Montgomery County, and Girard College in Philadelphia to develop video graduation programs that best celebrate their students’ achievements.
“We saw early on that in-person graduations and commencement activities would not take place but that there would still need to be a way to recognize the hard work and achievement of the graduates”, said Ed Seiders, the Director of Business Development at 20/20 Visual Media and 2004 alum of Lansdale Catholic. “While we knew this could never take the place of graduation, it was a way that schools could still celebrate and acknowledge their students’ accomplishments”.
The video programs will feature speeches from principals, faculty, and students, and will include an on-screen roll call of every graduating senior accompanied by yearbook photos or homemade video. The programs will be edited together and debuted on the same date each high school would have held its graduation ceremony.
“We’ve filmed so many in-person graduations at both the college and high school levels, so we know how important that day is for students and their families”, said Seiders. “While this is the first time we’re all dealing with this new normal, it was important to us to create a program that the students could share with their parents, grandparents, and friends, even if social distancing dictates they can’t be together.”
Production of the graduation videos begins the week of May 11.