Graduates Honored By Names, Photos On Billboards In Polk County

BARTOW, FL — Polk County Public Schools' 2020 graduates have their faces posted on billboards as of June 3 that are owned by Lamar Advertising Company throughout the County.

Lamar partnered with Polk County Public Schools to celebrate the students' high school graduations.

“Ever since we announced that traditional graduation ceremonies would be cancelled, our community has rallied around the Class of 2020," said superintendent Jacqueline Byrd. "Lamar has been an outstanding partner to Polk County Public Schools for years, and now they’ve stepped up once again, giving each of our seniors the chance to see themselves on billboards throughout the county."

The school board expressed their gratitude for Lamar doing this for the students. Digital billboards throughout Polk County will feature nearly every graduates' name and photo until June 28. Photos and names of senior graduates were submitted by each school.

Polk County Public Schools are scheduling high school graduation ceremonies throughout the month of June, with the first one scheduled for June 6 at Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland. For the full schedule along with rules that every attendee and graduate must follow for social distancing at graduation ceremonies, visit Graduation Information Polk County.

"In Lamar's 100-plus years as a company, we have had a long tradition of giving back to the communities where we operate," said general manager Jim Maskas. "When PCPS reached out to us with the idea of recognizing Polk County senior graduates on our digital units during this special time in their lives, we gladly jumped on it. We hope the graduates will visit the billboards and take a few minutes to simply enjoy how far they’ve come. We also hope the broader community will receive these billboards as messages of hope. The pandemic cancelled traditional graduations, and so many other events and elements of normal life, but because of these young people, the future is still very bright.”

Billboards for the following schools will be displayed at the following locations:

U.S. 98 South, south of County Road 540A (Lakeland):

Bartow High School

Fort Meade Middle-Senior High School

Gause Academy of Leadership

Summerlin Academy

East side of U.S. 98 South, south of Polk Parkway (Lakeland):

Fresh Start Bartow

Polk Grad Academy

Cypress Gardens Boulevard, 200 feet east of County Road 540A, facing westbound (Winter Haven):

Fresh Start Community School Winter Haven

Karen M. Siegel Academy

Cypress Gardens Boulevard, 200 feet east of County Road 540A, facing eastbound (Winter Haven):

Ridge Technical College

Winter Haven High School

U.S. 98 South at Combee Road (Lakeland):

Harrison School for the Arts

Lakeland Senior High School

East side of South Florida Avenue at School House Road (Lakeland):

George Jenkins High School

Mulberry High School

East side of U.S. 98 North, 700 feet north of Daughtery Road (Lakeland):

Fresh Start Lakeland

Lake Gibson High School

East side of U.S. 27, 70 feet south of County Road 540A (southeast Polk):

Frostproof High School

Roosevelt Academy

West side of U.S. 17, 0.1 miles south of County Road 655 (Winter Haven):

Jean O’Dell Learning Center

Lake Region High School

South side of U.S. 92 at Combee Road (Lakeland):

Auburndale High School

Doris Sanders Learning Center

Tenoroc High School

West side of U.S. 27, 1.2 miles south of Interstate 4:

Haines City High School

East side of U.S. 98 North, north of Interstate 4:

Kathleen High School

Patch would love for you to share photos taken by you of your graduating senior's face on the billboard, if safe to do so while driving or just pull over on the side of the road, and post it in comments to this article.