TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — Senior year of high school is supposed to be one of the most important years of anyone's life, but the pandemic is robbing all seniors from making memories they may never get to experience.
A principal of a northern Michigan high school wasn't going to let coronavirus steal the delivery of a milestone moment from one of her students.
"On Tuesday, we just determined who our 2020 class valedictorian was going to be," said Michelle Floering, principal of Grand Traverse Academy, a small school in Traverse City, Mi. "I decided to call the student and notify her."
The student is senior Kaitlyn Watson.
Floering says soon after the phone started to ring, she realized that if school were still in session, she'd be delivering the message to Kaitlyn in person.
"[Kaitlyn's] mom said she wasn't home and that she was working at Culver's," said Floering. "My intent was to tell Kaitlyn via FaceTime, but I decided to do it at her workplace instead.
"I grabbed my coat and I left."
It was around 4 o'clock in the afternoon, not long after Kaitlyn had started her shift, when one of her co-workers approached her and said somebody was asking to see her at the drive-thru window.
"I went over to the window and there was my principal," said Kaitlyn, 18. "I had no clue what was going on."
With her son taping the moment on his iPhone, Floering said, "Hi Kaitlyn. I have you on camera because i want to announce something to you today. You are Grand Traverse Academy's 2020 class valedictorian."
"I am? Oh my gosh. Thank you so much." Kaitlyn said.
"You're welcome. And I know we have to stay six feet away so I can't, like, give you a hug but congratulations. Well deserved," Floering said.
Kaitlyn says she stopped working for a minute to call home and tell her parents.
"It was just pure joy," Kaitlyn said, referring to the way the news was delivered to her. "It was a light in the darkness of everything that's going on. It meant the world to me that she was able to come and made that kind of effort to tell me.
"I cannot thank her enough."
Floering says it's important for administrators and educators around the state to be diligent in looking for ways to insure their seniors get to experience some sort of normalcy.
Receiving milestone, life-altering news, while poking your head out of a fast-food drive-thru window may not be considered normal to most, it certainly felt like it to both Kaitlyn Watson and Michelle Floering, given the circumstances.
"Seeing her reaction was everything," said Floering. "Being named class valedictorian is an important senior moment. Kaitlyn is more than entitled to have that, even if I had to stay 6 feet from her while telling her."
Kaitlyn says decades from now, when she reflects back on her senior year, she'll never forget how she learned she'd been named valedictorian.
"She wouldn't have done it that way if school were still in session," said Kaitlyn. "Knowing that makes it even more meaningful to me.
"Good things can still come within these recent events."
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