The COVID-19 pandemic halted a number of high school senior traditions and memories this spring. So a Lakeland teacher and resident decided to replicate the Senior Walk down the elementary school hallway with a video montage of 34 students who attended Lakeland Elementary School (LES).
Link to YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ttqFlxqdn0&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR0sOF2YLUDuN_XpqcVI8VZCyd_chB06wSx70EiZooHnTBcvd4bt_E0jjbg
A year ago, 47 senior students gathered in the lobby of their alma mater dressed in their caps and gowns or high school emblem attire to walk the halls of the K-4 school in the first ever LES Graduate Walk and start a new tradition. They greeted the young LES Lions as they went down the hallways. It was the idea of Terri Hoffman, LES kindergarten teacher and mom of an AHS (Arlington High School) 2019 graduate. “I wanted the kids to finish where they started,” she said.
This year schools are closed because of the virus and the Senior Walk could not be scheduled. Carrie Douglas, who teachers at LES, joined with Laura Harrison, Lakeland School Board member and parent, to create a five-minute video montage of 34 students who attended the Lakeland school and then transferred to other schools in the Memphis-area to complete their educations. The video features childhood and senior photos of each student.
The video began “Congrats Class of 2020. We are so proud of you” and ended with “Once a Lion, Always a Lion.”
