Sign of the times: grads find new way to celebrate

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This article was published 11/05/2020 (2294 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Even though it’s not an election, expect to see a surge in signs on people’s lawns.

Grad season is approaching, but the class of 2020 will not be allowed to celebrate with a prom because of the pandemic. Sherri Brayshaw-Spencer has had to come to grips with this as her son Oliver is a Grade 12 student at Oak Park High School.

“As a mom, I’m probably a bit more devastated than my son is right now. I was so looking forward to it. I was on the grad committee and we raised all this money to have this big safe grad,” said Brayshaw-Spencer, who is a hairstylist.

“We picked up his suit, maybe two weeks ago, and he came home and had it on and was walking around the house and looking at himself in the mirror in the living room. Then all of a sudden, he turned to me with these sad eyes and said ‘Mom, am I even going to get to wear this anywhere?’ And that totally broke my heart.”

High school officials hope to have graduation ceremonies and parties in the fall, but Brayshaw-Spencer didn’t want to wait that long. She discovered lawn signs that congratulate graduates are available and she liked the idea.

She mentioned it to a friend, who knows the owner of The Sign Source on Marion Street, Narda Narick.

Brayshaw-Spencer reached out to Narick, who has a daughter who’s graduating from Westwood Collegiate this year, and they quickly got signs made. An email was sent to parents of Oak Park grads asking if they’d be interested in a sign for $10. About 100 signed up. Brayshaw-Spencer and her son delivered the signs themselves.

“The parents were so happy when I emailed. A lot of them were like ‘Thank you so much for doing this’ because it’s something we should be celebrating… but I did have one lady go crazy on me about the environmental implications of these plastic signs, but whatever. I couldn’t get a bamboo, biodegradable sign made for her,” Brayshaw-Spencer said with a laugh.

Students who decided to receive a sign appreciate the gesture. Twins Erica and Shaun Moore, who turn 18 next week, have two signs outside their home.

“I think it’s a fantastic sign of acknowledgement during this time of uncertainty,” Erica said. “This is definitely not what we expected and this time definitely isn’t all about us, but it’s still important for us to be recognized for our achievements.”

The Sign Source, which is selling them at a discount, has made 3,500 signs so far and another 3,500 in the works. Teachers at St.James-Assiniboia School Division have received their signs and will put them up early this week.

“I said to (Brayshaw-Spencer) ‘Would you mind if I took this idea and took it to the superintendents and principals around the city?’ And she said ‘Absolutely. Go ahead.’ So, I sent the emails back on April 19 and shortly after that, a handful of the divisions have been on board and we had a very good response from it. It just started to snowball,” said Narick.

Brayshaw-Spencer’s idea has generated income for the store at a time when businesses are hurting.

“All of May, there would’ve been nothing to do. We were busy up until the end of April, but when this (grad sign) idea came in mid-April, we were like ‘Geez this could keep us busy.’ We’ve been able to bring our staff back full time.”

A sign won’t make up for missing out on the full graduation experience, but students such as Erica and Shaun are staying positive.

“This is something that hasn’t happened ever, but when we get older and some of us have kids, it will be an interesting story to tell our kids and grandkids because this could be something that doesn’t happen again,” Shaun said.

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @TaylorAllen31