DENVER, N.C. — Seniors at East Lincoln High School are upset after learning their graduation ceremony is moving indoors. 

What You Need To Know

  • East Lincoln High School seniors are asking the school board for help after turf installation moved their graduation indoors to the gym; it is traditionally held on the football field 
  • Betsy Eatmon and Ginny Overbay say they have lived all of their high school years in the pandemic and were looking forward to a normal graduation on the field
  • Students will receive four in-person tickets for guests and four more virtual tickets
  • All four Lincoln County high schools will have the turf installed; East Lincoln's is scheduled from May 1 through August

New turf installation on the football field is forcing the ceremony into the gym and limiting the amount of guests students can invite. 

High school seniors Betsy Eatmon and Ginny Overbay have known each other since kindergarten. "We've been best friends for a very long time," said Eatmon. 

They've battled many things together, including the last four years of high school while living through the pandemic. 

“Sure did, freshman year of high school and sophomore year and junior year having to learn online, even teaching yourself. This year is technically our only normal year of high school," said Eatmon. 

The seniors were very much looking forward to graduation, and the final culmination of their only "normal" year. 

“It’s a milestone. You only graduate high school once, and I think it's very important for the senior class and our parents to experience that in a normal way if we can," said Eatmon

But recently, all four Lincoln County high schools received money from the state to improve athletic facilities. 

Turf will be installed at all football fields, with East Lincoln's scheduled for May 1 through August, which means graduation will not be held on the field. It will instead be moved inside to the gym. 

Overbay is the valedictorian and class president. 

“I was disappointed. I’m one of the people who’s going to get to talk at graduation and as a senior, this is a huge achievement, and like she said, a huge milestone, disappointment because you had envisioned it one way and then not to have your entire family there," said Overbay. 

She signed up to speak at the school board meeting and asked the school board members to help them find an alternate location where students could bring more guests. 

Moving it indoors means students will receive a limited number of tickets for family members to attend. 

“I know some people come from divorced parents and that’s two sides they have to bring, and we only have four actually 'in-person' tickets so that makes it difficult to bring everybody," said Eatmon. 

“Whether that’s finding a venue, trying to push the turf back, anything, and if we end up where we’re at, at least we tried," said Eatmon. 

“We’re trying to push this forward not just for us two, but for the entire senior class," added Overbay. 

According to the chief operations officer for Lincoln County Schools, the timeline to install the turf was determined by the central office administrations and the timeline was determined by the use of the exiting athletic facility.