PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. -- On Tuesday, in-person graduation ceremonies begin for Pinellas County Schools, but the ceremonies won’t include some major traditions because of the pandemic.

The school district is limiting the number of guests students can invite, social distancing guidelines will be followed, and everyone attending will have to wear masks.

Parents said regardless of the changes to the ceremony, these students graduating this year have even more to celebrate because they made it through some unprecedented circumstances.

One graduate, Omarii Forte Belizaire, is even graduating early as a sophomore. 

He said he took full advantage of the pandemic and online courses and completed all the classes he needed to graduate early.

He’ll walk on Tuesday with his classmates to receive his diploma, but they won’t be receiving any handshakes because of COVID-19. Ceremonies will also be condensed to just the processional to limit exposure.

Omarii said he learned a lot from this school experience and now he has a message for other students. “I would say work on time management and being patient.  You can’t get frustrated easily or you’re not going to be able to complete it because you’ll end up giving up and once you’re good with that, you can work good under pressure.”

There will be several ceremonies held at Spectrum Field each day this week. The ceremonies will also be shown online.