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Alpena High School replaces Senior Lock-In with outdoor celebration

ALPENA, Mich. — Alpena High School is finding a new way of sending off their graduating class while still following safety protocols.

Normally, Alpena High School’s graduating seniors would spend the entire Friday night before graduation at the school for Senior Lock–In. Because of COVID-19 protocol, they had to go a different route this year.

“Once we saw the writing on the wall when it came to that, we sat down as an administrative staff at the high school,” Principal Thomas Berriman said. “Our [Career and Technical Education] director came up with an idea of having an event downtown.”

This week, Alpena’s City Council approved the new senior celebration in the downtown area. The event will be held on May 21, on 2nd Avenue between Chisolm Street and River Street. Berriman said that with everything the senior class has been through, the school felt they needed a proper send-off.

“To have music and food and a celebration downtown in lieu of the tradition lock-in was something we really wanted to do,” Berriman said. “This class deserves it.”

Not only was the goal to celebrate the seniors, but to celebrate the community for working through an extraordinary year as well.

“We really wanted to incorporate downtown and some of the businesses,” Berriman said. “Let’s be honest, this year and a half has been tough for our businesses as well. We just really want to bring our students to downtown and celebrate everything that makes Alpena a really special place.”