WestJet crew holds mid-flight graduation for students after coronavirus shutters school

Morgan Hines | USA TODAY

Talk about sky-high emotions for a graduation ceremony: A group of students from Briercrest College and Seminary in Canada celebrated their graduation on a WestJet flight when coronavirus shut down their school.

Four members of the Briercrest Clippers Women's Volleyball team were flying on the Canadian airline back to school after the CCAA National Women's Volleyball Championships in Québec City, when they were surprised with a mid-air celebration, according to an article posted on the school's website.

They had just learned that their classes would move online on March 16 and their graduation, scheduled for mid-April, was now "up in the air." But the WestJet crew made sure Rebecca Garner, Ashley Erickson, Elicia Wiebe and Kirsty Kindrachuk, had a graduation they would remember.

"We put a lot of work into this," a crew member can be heard staying in a video of the moment before announcing each of the graduates and their individual degrees, even humming parts of "Pomp and Circumstance," as they walked up.

"Don't go yet, we have parting gifts for you, it's like the Price is Right," the crew member adds as one of the graduates tries to walk back to her seat.

The students were having a tough time adjusting to the new reality they were facing as a result of COVID-19's rapid spread across the globe.

“It was a whirlwind of finishing our volleyball careers and then that night finding out that school was closing for the rest of the year and we were going to have to do online classes,” said Ashley Erickson, one of the graduates, said in the article.

Then, their team chaplain, Joelle Epp, decided to take action. She spoke to the flight crew about what was going on.

“As soon as they heard her say that, they got so excited and started asking us to write down the degrees we would be receiving," said Erickson. "About 5 minutes later they started our impromptu, 39,000 feet above ground, graduation ceremony.”

Each of the girls received a hand made, diploma reading "West Jet Diploma of Excellence."

WestJet, while tackling operational changes, was unable to track down the flight crew for comment, Lauren Stewart, spokesperson for WestJet told USA TODAY in an email.

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