In order to celebrate the graduating class of 2021, an outdoor graduation ceremony will be held at Cam High on Tuesday, June 15th. Due to COVID-19, there was no outdoor graduation ceremony last year. Since things have been looking better and Ventura county is in the orange tier, Cam High agreed to having an outdoor graduation ceremony. 

Ms. Pristera, ASB Director and English teacher at Cam High, said, “We were always planning on an in-person graduation in one form or another. If we would have remained in the purple tier, our ceremony would have still been on the field; however, it would have been over several days with student family groups. The tier change pushed [forward] our Plan B, which was the full, in-person [graduation] with attendees. A graduation is always a once-in-a-lifetime event and regardless of what tier we would have been in, we always had plans to honor the graduates and their families.”

Cam High principal, Mr. Matt La Belle, described what graduation will look like for students and their guests.

“Each graduate will be allowed to receive four tickets,” said La Belle. “It will be up to the graduate to determine who they will invite. The number of guests allowed is based on the size of our stadium and the capacity limits.  All guests (including graduates) will have to acquire their ticket (no cost) by going to GoFan which is our online ticketing vendor.  All guests (including graduates) will be mandated to wear face coverings as well.  All guests will be physically distanced in the bleachers.” 

Adding on to precautions being taken, Pristera said, “We will also have a security team at the entrances as air horns and other items will not be permitted. A full list will be shared out with the community within the next few weeks.”

During this time period, things will obviously differ from past graduation ceremonies. Seniors will have a choice since graduation will be voluntary; however, La Belle does hope everyone will come. “Graduation is a voluntary activity, however we hope everyone comes so that we can celebrate them,” said La Belle. “This will be my first in-person graduation as a Principal.  I am in this business because I believe in young people, and want to help them along their journey.  As you know my motto is ‘ya gotta believe’ and I have preached that to everyone at ACHS.  Ya Gotta Believe that an in-person graduation in the final event for the students I serve to celebrate their accomplishment they have been working towards for four years.”