Graduation ceremonies are one of the largest events affected due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Many in-person events continue to be cancelled, making it difficult for people to celebrate the accomplishments of the different graduates, but this has not stopped a local committee with coming up with a unique way to do just that.
Owen Gudmundson, Kelsey Littlejohn, Cale Adams, Marci LeBlanc and Nigel Mack, along with their parents and teacher have developed a unique plan which will see the class recognized in a very public way, for a very long time. The group has worked closely with the City of Estevan to develop a tribute in Torgenson Park.
“We believe that it is important that all of the grads in Estevan are recognized. We did not want to become the ‘forgotten class’ or the ‘pandemic class,’” said Gudmundson.
“We chose Torgenson Park because it is highly visible and close to ECS,” added Adams.
The City of Estevan has allowed the class to put a sculpture in the park that will act as a tribute to the Class of 2020. It will also include the entire graduating class list on it, but there is a lot of work to do before this happens.
“For the next couple of weeks we will be starting a community campaign to raise funds for the project. We will be reaching out to the grads, their parents and families, businesses and the community for donations,” said LeBlanc.
Mack went on to explain the steps of the project.
“Once we know how much money we have, we will be able to put a call out to the different local artists in town to submit designs for the sculpture. The class of 2020 will then be able to vote on the different designs, and the one with the most votes is the one we will choose.”
The group hopes to have the sculpture installed by the fall.
“We are looking at something similar in size and scope as the tribute sculpture between Spruce Ridge and ECS,” Littlejohn added.
The sculpture Littlejohn referred to depicts band students playing their musical instruments, and was unveilled in 2012. It serves as a lasting tribute to the late Colin Grunert, who was the long-time band instructor at ECS.
If anyone is interested in donating, they can send etransfers to [email protected]. If there are corporate donors looking to contribute to the project please contact Sherrill LeBlanc at 306.421.7293 or by email at [email protected] the committee will arrange a pick up.
