By Tom Tolen / news@whmi.com


Brighton High School’s roughly 500 graduating seniors will be participating in several activities over the next 2 1/2 weeks, culminating with graduation ceremonies. According to Lead Principal Gavin Johnson, commencement exercises will take place on Saturday, June 12th, at noon.

Today (Friday) is the last day of school for seniors, who took part in the “Senior Walk” this morning, in which students donned their caps and gowns, and said goodbye to their teachers and classmates.

The exterior of the sprawling school campus is currently replete with about 500 signs which sport the name of each graduating senior along with the student’s photo. The students will be allowed to take their sign home after graduating as a personal memento of their time at Brighton High. This is the second year that the PTO and BHS administration placed lawn signs in front of the school complex for the senior class.

For the graduation ceremony itself, each student will be given six personalized tickets, with the student allowed to bring parents or guardians and four others of his or her choosing. In order to make it special, each ticket will have the student’s own name and photo on it. Credit for the personalized tickets goes to Shelly Stress, a student in Sean Carney’s design graphics program, who did the design work.

The valedictorian at the graduation exercises will be Connor Wilkinson, the son of James and Barbara Wilkinson. The commencement address will be given by Claire Mykols, who greatly impressed the judges with her speech-making abilities at student tryouts which were held for the honor. The class of 2020-21 will be presented by Class President Andrew Myers, who will sit on stage alongside his father, Board of Education President Roger Myers.

Prior to the big day, on June 2nd, a portion of downtown Brighton will be blocked off for seniors and their families between the hours of 4 and 8 p.m. for an event in which the town will recognize and honor the senior class. A DJ will play music, weather permitting, at The AMP on the Mill Pond. Afterward, there will be opportunities for parents to dine or shop at any of the stores and restaurants in the downtown area. Further details on the downtown event will be given as the day approaches.

“It’s the ultimate connection of the city and school working hand-in-hand,” Johnson said. The event is being coordinated with the assistance of the city of Brighton, the Greater Brighton Area Chamber of Commerce, and the Downtown Development Authority.

Top photo - Senior lawn signs in front of the high school. The signs were purchased by the BHS PTO and placed in front of the school by Roger Meyers and Ken Stahl of the school board, members of the PTO, and administration.

Bottom photo - The volunteers who placed the lawn signs outside the school, along with one of the dozen social-emotional-learning dogs in the Brighton Area Schools.

Photos courtesy of Brighton Area Schools administration.