Abington Class Of 2026 Has Weathered The Storm

ABINGTON TOWNSHIP, PA — The Class of 2026 tried to get through its commencement ceremony on Wednesday night.

But Mother Nature has other ideas.

While other school districts in the Philadelphia region postponed ceremonies Wednesday evening in the wake of incoming thunderstorms, the Abington School District tried to give it a whirl.

And the results were disastrous.

As students garbed in the high school's maroon colors sat in chairs, severe weather disrupted the ceremony, forcing graduates and their families to seek shelter.

Watch this video from CBS News Philadelphia

The video shows strong winds, rain and flashes of lightning.

The commencement was postponed to Thursday at the stadium. More thunderstorms are in the forecast.

"Unfortunately, the weather continues to be unsafe to hold commencement," school officials announced.

The inclement weather was just one instance in which this Class of 2026 has weathered the storm.

Abington Township Commissioner John Spiegelman praised the class in a Facebook post for pushing through tough times over the years.

"Six years (+ three months) ago, the ASHS Class of 2026 were sixth graders, in their last year at their elementary schools, getting ready for class trips to FunPlex, being honored at their closing ceremonies, and starting at the Junior High," the commissioner said. "Then the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the world, all of those plans were upended and canceled, and they finished the school year and started the next one over Zoom."

Earlier Wednesday evening, a deluge of rain and its cohort of lightning and wind caused their long-awaited high school graduation ceremony to be interrupted and postponed until Thursday," Spiegelman said.

The commissioner said he has gotten to know some of the Class of 2026 members through chaperoning them on the German exchange, attending their Eagle Scout Courts of Honor, meeting them through their community/volunteer work, or being friends with their parents.

"I know that they, like so many others, never asked to learn, in the concentrated way that they've been forced to, life lessons like resilience, flexibility, adaptability, dealing with unpredictability and disappointment, and getting back up when you get knocked down," he said. "But they have learned them all the same and learned to take care of one another along the way. Our whole community can be proud of the young adults that they've become and hopeful for everything that they'll do next along all the different paths they'll choose."