Hold your applause, please.

Usually graduation ceremonies rebound with loud excitement, but not this one — and it was on purpose.

School has wrapped up for students and graduation ceremonies are being held for those moving on to a new grade or new chapter in their lives. This year there was a very special graduation ceremony for one student from Bev Facey Community High School who has sensory issues.

Nathan Smith has spina bifida and hydrocephalus, which has left him with sensory issues, but his mother did not want him to miss out on having a graduation ceremony.

“He was really excited about graduation, but he was extremely nervous by the idea of the actual grad and we wanted to celebrate this milestone with him,” explained Cindy Smith, Nathan’s mother.

Grads can be very loud with cheering, applause and other noise that would have made it very hard for Nathan to enjoy himself, so the mother decided to put together a no-clap graduation ceremony for her son.

“It was a huge success and we couldn’t be happier with it,” she explained. “It is a busy time of the year and can be hard to squeeze stuff in, but I was really happy that it came together and was better than I had even hoped.”

Around 100 people turned out for the graduation ceremony on Friday, June 21. For Nathan, it was an incredible experience.

“Friends from his elementary school came, friends from his class at Bev Facey, friends from our church community and lots of family were able to attend,” Smith said. “We also had some special speakers, like his educational assistant who worked with Nathan from Grade 1-6, his teacher from the GOALS program at Bev Facey and he was presented with his certificate of completion.”

The student’s teacher said it was a great ceremony and was definitely something Nathan will remember for the rest of his life.

“Nathan has a great sense of humour and as everyone spoke, he would interact and interject with his light humour,” explained Candida Shepherd, lead teacher in the GOALS program at Bev Facey. “The ceremony was very humorous because of Nathan’s ability to joke and respond to what was being said.”

Smith said the graduating experience is important and she wanted to make sure her son got to participate in the milestone in a memorable way.

“His little sister wheeled him up on stage to move his tassel from one side of his hat to the other,” Smith explained. “Bev Facey was amazing and let us borrow one of the grad gowns so he could wear a grad gown.”

The ceremony also had a very touching display front and centre that Smith put together from Nathan’s past school career.

“We saved a poster from when he was in Grade 3 that was made by his classmates wrote the principal to request that there was no clapping at any assemblies that year so that Nathan could be included,” Smith said.

Shepherd said it was really touching to read the notes from Nathan’s former elementary school classmates who wanted to make sure he was included in assemblies.

The special grad ceremony also featured a dance, a soft ice cream machine and lots of fun for Nathan to look back on. Now that he has completed school, his mother intends to keep his life rich and full with church, family, community connections and some volunteering.

tdosser@postmedia.com

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