The start of quarantine in March seemed like the end of the world in many ways. School moved online, spring sports were cancelled, and coronavirus cases reached almost apocalyptic highs. However, as the weeks progressed, community members both here and around the country have learned to commemorate birthdays, anniversaries, graduations and more with drive-through celebrations.

The first way that many residents used the drive-by technique was for birthdays. Several birthdays, including my own, have been celebrated with long lines of decorated cars driving past a house as a surprise. Given that the normal celebration of a birthday is impossible with the current pandemic, this option was a welcome surprise to anyone celebrating their birthday in quarantine.

“Doing drivebys for our best friends’ birthdays has actually been one of the highlights of quarantine for me,” senior Mark Smirnov said. “Being there for our boys on their birthdays when we can’t celebrate with them traditionally was awesome. Especially turning it into a honk fest throughout their neighborhoods.”

Senior Joshua Lane, whose birthday was also celebrated with a drive-through, said that “it was great to see many of my friends take the time and effort to celebrate Ethan’s and I’s birthday despite it being such a stressful time for many of them. The drive-by-birthday was especially meaningful because it allowed me to see my friends face to face, and I got to spend a bit of time with them in person.”

However, birthdays are not the only events that have been celebrated with drive throughs. Currently LFHS is planning a drive through graduation, which has been a widely appreciated improvement over a wholly virtual ceremony, with current regulations and the state of the virus making a full in-person graduation in early June impossible.

Since the current state guidelines make the traditional graduation impossible, many of us expected that graduation would be made virtual. However, the drive-through graduation is probably the best way forwards considering the current guidelines. Students can walk across the stage and receive their diploma, even if it is one at a time from the safety of a line of cars.

While the current pandemic has upended many plans, it has also shown the creativity of the community when it comes to adapting to unusual circumstances.