Graduate Together: America Honors the High School Class of 2020

Graduate Together: America Honors the High School Class of 2020 is an American television special that was simulcasted on the major television networks and online on May 16, 2020. Created by the XQ Institute, the LeBron James Family Foundation, and the Entertainment Industry Foundation, the special was curated by basketball player LeBron James in collaboration with high school students and educators across the United States, including the American Federation of Teachers. The broadcast included a variety of commencement addresses, celebrity performances and inspirational vignettes aimed at high school students, whose graduation ceremonies and proms were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, due to it causing the closure of most schools worldwide.[2][3]

Graduate Together: America Honors the High School Class of 2020
GenreBenefit performance[1]
Created by
Presented byLeBron James
Country of originUnited States
Original languagesEnglish
Spanish
Production
Executive producersLeBron James
Brian Gott
Production locationVirtual
Running time57 minutes
Production companies
Original release
NetworkABC
CBS
Fox
NBC
ReleaseMay 16, 2020 (2020-05-16)

Appearances

edit

Students

edit
Name School Location Role
Priscilla Arceo Santa Ana High School Orange County, California
Justin "Jwalt" Walton Oakland School for the Arts Oakland, California
Ervin Odom Akron Early College High School Akron, Ohio
Shelbie Rash Skyline High School Mesa, Arizona
Jordan Lewis Washington High School Phoenix, Arizona
Halah Berglin Williams Field High School Gilbert, Arizona
Kayla Diaz Franklin High School
Johnny Corte Saguaro High School Scottsdale, Arizona
Mason Whitaker Ironwood Ridge High School Oro Valley, Arizona
Parker Fowler Greenway High School Phoenix, Arizona
Morgann Kelly Desert Vista High School
Lauren Grimm Thunderbird High School
Caleb Fearing Mojave High School North Las Vegas, Nevada
Christian Johnson Ron Brown College Preparatory High School Washington, D.C.
Morgan Schragger Hopewell Valley Central High School Pennington, New Jersey Introducing H.E.R.
Sydney Guine Los Angeles County High School for the Arts Los Angeles, California
Eliza Andrus Ocean Township High School Oakhurst, New Jersey Introducing the Graduation Medley by Henry, Jonah, and Ben Platt
Ian Coursey Our Lady of Good Counsel High School Olney, Maryland
Emily Liang Oakland High School Oakland, California Introducing YBN Cordae
Jordan Orion Early College High School Killeen, Texas
Aniyah Fisher Kenwood Academy High School Chicago, Illinois Introducing the commencement by Barack Obama

Performances

edit
Artist(s) Song(s)
Students of the Class of 2020 "Star-Spangled Banner"
Dua Lipa "Break My Heart"
Ben Platt
Henry Platt
Jonah Platt
Graduation Medley
"Memories" / "Graduation (Friends Forever)"
"In My Life"
"See You Again"
"Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)"
Alicia Keys "Underdog"
Chika
Brandan "Bmike" Odums
"Crown"
H.E.R. "Sometimes"
YBN Cordae "Broke as F**k"
Jonas Brothers
Karol G
"X"

Broadcast

edit

The special was simulcasted on May 16, 2020, at 8pm EST on the major U.S. broadcast television networks ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC, except PBS due to flex programming on member stations over most of their schedules and broadcast times for network shows may vary.[2] It was also simulcasted on television networks California Music Channel and The CW, on Spanish-language network Univision, and on cable networks CNN, Fox Business, Fox News, Freeform, and MSNBC.[1][4] It was also available for streaming in platforms such as ABC News Live, Associated Press, Bleacher Report, Complex Networks, Facebook, FoxNow, Hulu, Instagram, NBC News Now, NowThis News, PeopleTV, The Roku Channel, Roland Martin Unfiltered, Reuters, Sirius XM, Snapchat, TikTok, USO, The Washington Post, and YouTube.[3][1][4]

Viewership

edit

United States

edit
Network Viewers
(million)[5]
ABC 2.233
NBC 2.203
MSNBC 2.003
CNN 1.879
CBS 1.836
FNC 0.977
Fox 0.659
The CW 0.367
Freeform 0.211

  Broadcast network

  Cable network

Total Viewership = 14.674

References

edit
  1. ^ a b c "GRADUATE TOGETHER: AMERICA HONORS THE HIGH SCHOOL CLASS OF 2020, A Graduation Tribute to Our Nation's High School Seniors, to Air Saturday, May 16 at 8 P.M. ET/PT, 7 P.M. CT". BusinessWire. April 29, 2020. Retrieved May 17, 2020.
  2. ^ a b c "LeBron James to honor Class of 2020 with all-star event". Education Week. New York NY. Associated Press. April 30, 2020. Archived from the original on May 24, 2020. Retrieved April 30, 2020.
  3. ^ a b c Tapp, Tom (April 30, 2020). "LeBron James Leading Live All-Star 'Graduate Together' Tribute To Class Of 2020 Airing As Primetime TV Special". Deadline. Retrieved May 1, 2020.
  4. ^ a b King, John Paul (May 14, 2020). "America's Class of 2020 to 'Graduate Together' in special broadcast event". Los Angeles Blade. Retrieved May 17, 2020.
  5. ^ Metcalf, Mitch (May 19, 2020). "Top 150 Saturday Cable Originals & Network Finals: 5.16.2020". Showbuzz Daily. Archived from the original on May 19, 2020. Retrieved May 19, 2020.
edit