Seniors graduating from a Florida high school rode jet skis as their principal handed off diplomas from a boat during the ceremony

• Seniors from Somerset Island Prep charter high school in Key West, Florida, had an at-sea graduation ceremony on Tuesday.
• The high school's 12 graduates rode jet skis to pick up their diplomas, which their principal distributed with a pole device to avoid hand contact.
• Prior to the ceremony, the graduates received a free training session on how to ride the watercraft, according to the Miami Herald.
• The graduates sported traditional caps and gowns but wore life vests underneath.

Graduates from Somerset Island Prep, a charter high school in Key West, Florida, didn't get to walk across a stage for their commencement ceremony, but they coasted on water instead.

On Tuesday evening, the high school's 12 graduating seniors each rode a jet ski to pick up their diplomas, according to a press release obtained by Insider.

Academia, an affiliate organization that supports Somerset Island Prep, shared a video on Twitter of the Key West seniors' one-of-a-kind graduation ceremony.

—Academica (@Academica) May 27, 2020

One-by-one, the students rode the watercraft to meet their principal, who was standing on a docked boat and used a grabber pole device to give each graduate their diplomas without making hand contact.

Prior to the ceremony, graduates took a free, three-hour jet ski training course provided by a local company that loaned the watercraft to the school, according to the Miami Herald.

"This final ceremony for our seniors represents the same theme that has played out throughout the entirety of their time at Island Prep: that no barrier is too large to overcome and that through creativity and hard work we can overcome any challenge," Tom Rompella, principal of Somerset Island Prep, said in a statement from the school.

High schools around the nation have been forced to be innovative with ceremonies honoring graduates.

For example, one high school in Telluride, Colorado, held its graduation ceremony from sanitized ski gondolas. A New Hampshire high school also plans to use chairlifts to transport its graduating seniors for commencement in June, where they will receive their diplomas at the top of New Hampshire's Cranmore Mountain.

Several high schools are also hosting virtual or drive-in ceremonies and have planned clever ways to honor graduates with at-home surprises and decorations.

• Read more:
• A high school hand-delivered gift bags and signs to all 257 graduating seniors on their last day of classes
• These are the 15 most uplifting commencement messages celebrities and icons from Oprah Winfrey to Tom Hanks gave the class of 2020
• 20 facts about the class of 2020 that will blow your mind

Read the original article on Insider