Credit: Somerset Island Prep

This is way cooler than a regular ceremony.

Due the pandemic, a lot of schools have been forced to either cancel their graduation ceremonies or make some sort of concession on them like holding them over a big conference call. For kids who are supposed to be feeling accomplished and empowered by their completion of school, it’s a pretty anticlimactic state of affairs. Unfortunately, there’s not really any way to hand diplomas off from one person to another without risking violation of social distancing procedures. Or… is there?

Somerset Island Prep, a charter high school in Key West, Florida, wanted to give their graduates a ceremony they’ll remember for the rest of their lives, even if they can’t get within six feet. Luckily, being residents of Florida, they had no shortage of coast line to make for a beautiful backdrop. But why stop at just set dressing? The school decided to give the ceremony a little more oomph, with jet skis being their weapon of choice.

At the graduation ceremony held at the end of May, the graduates, dressed in full caps and gowns (and also life vests and face masks for safety purposes) took to the waves on jet skis, tearing up the surf, before cruising by a nearby boat. On the boat stood Principal Tom Rompella, holding out diplomas for the graduates using an extending grabber tool.

“This final ceremony for our seniors represents the same theme that has played out throughout the entirety of their time at Island Prep; that no barrier is too large to overcome and that through creativity and hard work, we can overcome any challenge,” Rompella said in a press release.

It’s a tumultuous time these students are graduating into, but if nothing else, this flashy ceremony gave them a little something to smile about.