New Brunswick villages honour high school graduates with public display of portraits

N.B. villages honour grads with public portraits Two villages in New Brunswick are the latest to honour their grads with portraits hung all around town.

PETITCODIAC, N.B. — The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the lives of Maritimers in many ways, including high school graduates who will no longer be able to have a traditional prom and graduation.

The villages of Salisbury and Petitcodiac, N.B., wanted to do something special to recognize the class of 2020.

“I think it’s really important that we show the kids that are graduating that we appreciate all the work that they’ve done over the last 12 years,” says Jerry Gogan, mayor of Petitcodiac.

Portraits of students graduating from JMA Armstrong High School and Petitcodiac Regional School now line the streets of the two villages.

“I thought, 'Well that would be easy to come up with a design and a concept that would work with the school colours, and logos, and the child’s name, it’d be fun and the grad could have the sign later,’” says Eric Goggin, a graphic designer.

Volunteers and local businesses came together to help fund the project. In total, 42 grad photos were hung in Petitcodiac and 63 in Salisbury.

“We just felt the least we could do is put these pictures up for the students, and the best part is they get the pictures after they’re all done,” says Laurie Stewart, a Petitcodiac Village councillor.

Grade 12 student Mattea Paterson says the idea that prom and graduation would not go as planned was hard to accept.

“You go through your whole school career and you wait for that one year and to have it kind of just ripped away from you so unexpectedly, it was a hard thing to deal with,” says Paterson.

Both schools will now hold graduation ceremonies for the class of 2020 at a drive-in theatre in Sussex, N.B., to allow for physical-distancing.

“We don’t get to have our graduation in the village due to the restrictions of COVID-19, so having that, having the village recognize us in one way or another, that’s definitely a very sweet thing, considering I’ve grown up here the 17 years of my life,” says Brandi Hebert, a Grade 12 student.