For more than a hundred years, the St. Michaels High School Alumni Association has made a big deal of welcoming new alumni from this small rural school into their ranks.

From carrying on traditions like the wearing of the famed graduation cape, which has worn since the 1930s, to helping with annual college scholarship fundraising drives, the Association, one of the oldest in the country, can be counted every spring to bring well-deserved attention to some of Talbot County’s most worthy young people.

This commitment to St. Michaels High has never altered, even when it faced the last pandemic that hit the Eastern Shore in 1918-19, but nothing could prepare the school or its alums with the complete shutdown that has come with COVID-19.

But, in keeping with the school’s history of resilience, its alumni association has not been deterred. As J.R. Burkhardt, president of the St. Michaels High School Alumni Association, told the Spy a few days ago, they have simply had to creatively pivot on they recognize the new Class of 2020.

This video is approximately two minutes in length. For more information about the St. Michaels High School Alumni Association, please visit their Facebook page here.