Summerland Secondary students snap iconic 2020 grad photo from a helicopter above a trestle bridge

Photo: Moments Under Frame Photography,

Summerland grad class sets up unforgettable grad photo.

It wasn’t the graduation celebrations Summerland Secondary students usually have, but they still made some unique memories last week with a parade down Main Street and an aerial photo shoot on the Kettle Valley Steam Railway trestle.

Summerland graduates, dressed in their caps and gowns, stood along the Trout Creek trestle while a photographer in a helicopter took photos from above.

Each grad was more than six feet from each other in what made for some unique pictures and memories, said Heather Pescada, who sits on the grad committee and helped organize the photo shoot.

“It turned out really great. We thought the Pen High thing was very cool, so we wanted a way to do that for our grads,” said Pescada. In the beginning of June, Penticton High School grads lined the iconic Penticton sign in their caps and gowns for an aerial photo shoot.

“I remembered that Top Flight helicopters said they would donate a flight to our celebrity dry grad fundraising party we were going to have at the Legion but never got to because of COVID. I called them up and they were happy to donate the flight.”

Then she called up the photographer, Shawn from Moments Under Frame Photography, who shot the Pen High photos. She asked him if he’d be willing to do a similar picture for the SSS grads.

Shawn said he would happily do it. Both photo shoots Shawn did free of charge.

“So we told the grads to meet us at the trestle,” said Pescada. “We have 110 grads, so some couldn’t make it but we did the best we could and around 73 came out.”

Graduates of SSS got to parade down Main Street wearing the dresses and suits they would have worn to a formal graduation party.

“Before the parade we had a torrential downpour so it was a bit touch and go but then it cleared and turned out awesome,” she said.

Some graduating classes have a story. The grads of 2020 made history, said Pescada.