More than 200 seniors are completing their finals days at East Haven High School (EHHS) as the Class of 2021 prepares for its graduation ceremony. Graduation is scheduled for Monday, June 21 at 6 p.m. at Crisafi Field. Due to COVID restrictions, there is a rain date of Tuesday, June 22 as the event will not be moved indoors if there is bad weather.

“It was important to our students and families to be able to have as traditional a ceremony as possible,” said EHHS Principal Vincent DeNuzzo. “A lot of hard work was involved to allow us to remain open all year and to be able to honor our students with a traditional, in-person graduation is going to be special.”

EHPS is one of few school districts in the area to have remained open throughout the 2020-’21 school year. The senior class recently celebrated other milestones such a prom, Academic Awards Night on June 3, and Scholarship Night on June 9. Superintendent of Schools Erica Forti is also “excited to be able to celebrate our students and their accomplishments in person and are grateful to be able to do so in a more traditional manner.” Though graduation will be much more traditional than the 2020 ceremony, capacity limitations will still be in place. Graduation will be held outdoors with people socially distanced. All guests and honorees are required to wear masks while in the school setting.

In a letter to families, DeNuzzo stated that students would each receive four tickets for guests for graduation, though the administration is currently examining the possibility of increasing that to six tickets per graduate. Tickets will be distributed on Friday, June 18 following the rehearsal exercise, which will be at noon.

Guest seating will be limited to field seating and there will be no seating on the bleachers or standing along the fences. Guests may not enter the roped off area and should take photos or videos from their seats. The gates to the field will open at 5 p.m. on the night of graduation and seating will only be open to guest with wristbands.

Those without tickets can view the ceremony from home via a live stream by EHHS’s Technology Services Department. The ceremony will be broadcast on the EHPS YouTube channel and the video will be made available on YJTV/ETV.

Students who have met all obligations (Chromebook return, athletic uniforms, textbooks, etc.) will also receive their cap and gown at the graduation rehearsal on June 18. The letter stated that students can decorate their caps so long as the decorations are “free from promotion or reference to drugs, alcohol, and tobacco; free from offensive signs, symbols, or words; and free of slogans, names, [and] titles which are defamatory toward person(s), group(s), the school, or other organizations which are likely to incite or inflame.”

Steady Photography will offer cap and gown portraits prior to graduation from 4 to 5 p.m. There is no charge to be photographed and a gallery to view and purchase will be provided.

“The Class of 2021 has endured so much over the last 15 months and they will always be remembered for their perseverance and ability to overcome some of the greatest challenges our society has encountered in most of our lifetimes,” said DeNuzzo. “I will miss them in our hallways and at our school events but look forward to the great things I know they will accomplish in the future.”