A lap to remember: PALM Charter High School grads receive diplomas in special ceremony
PALM Charter High School provided a special checkered flag for its students Friday evening, allowing them to receive their diplomas on the track before getting behind the wheel.
PALM — an acronym for Palmetto Academy of Learning Motorsports in Myrtle Beach, the only one of its kind in the U.S. — presented its 35 graduating seniors with diplomas at Myrtle Beach Speedway in a graduation ceremony set up to allow for social distancing amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Principal Avery Moore said that it had been a tough year for the 2020 class, noting Hurricane Dorian, having a student severely injured in a crash, and the COVID-19 virus.
“I just saw an opportunity to really give the students something they so well-deserved, that recognition,” Moore told The Sun News.
Students donned their caps and gowns while as their guardians escorted them in their family cars around MBS, following Moore, who took the wheel of the student-built race car. The students’ guardians led them to the front stretch, where guests cheered from the speedway grandstands.
The students then switched seats with their guardians and took a lap behind the pace car before receiving their diplomas on the racetrack.
“They’ll remember ever second of this graduation, I promise you,” Moore said.
