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‘Iolani School celebrates graduation with graduates and families parked in cars

About 200 vehicles parked at ‘Iolani School’s baseball field Saturday during the school’s 2020 graduation ceremony.

The vehicles, with this year’s graduating seniors and their families inside, were part of the school’s drive-in graduation that was modified to promote social distancing during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Some traditional parts of a graduation were kept intact, like speeches by commencement speakers.

“I will admit that I have never spoken to such a large crowd before. Usually when I talk, there are fewer cars watching,” Kanalu Matthew Monaco, one of ‘Iolani’s class of 2020 22 valedictorians, said before the crowd of vehicles.

“You are all capable of achieving the highest aspiriations you allow yourself to imagine for yourselves and for a world desperately in need of care. Class of 2020, you have had a year in which a year acted on you. Now, it’s time for you to go out and begin to act on the world,” said Head of School Timothy Cottrell.

Also like a normal graduation, albeit with most people in attendance wearing masks, students one-by-one walked up the stage on the field to receive their diplomas.

The vehicles then drove off the field, cheered on by friends and family lining the road the vehicles were driving through.

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