No prom, no problem: Manitoba twins mark grad by surfing in caps and gowns
Tatum and Brooke Lambert hit their surfboards at Lake of the Woods in caps and gowns ordered online
Twin sisters Tatum and Brooke Lambert were not going to let their last year of high school end without a splash.
After learning the traditional large ceremony and grad dinner at Winnipeg's Sturgeon Heights Collegiate would be postponed until at least the fall due to the COVID-19 pandemic and restrictions on gathering sizes, the Grade 12 students found their own way to mark the milestone.
"We put on our cap and gowns and we went [wake] surfing to have a fun way to celebrate," said Tatum, 17. "We just always wanted to do it."
The sisters ordered the caps and gowns, in their school colours, from Amazon so they don't have to return them. They brought the grad wear out to Lake of the Woods, near Kenora, Ont., last weekend.
The pair suited up in the caps and gowns and hopped on their boards to surf in tandem behind the family's boat.
"I did not think this was going to happen," said Teresa Lambert, the girls' mother, who filmed from the boat as the grads surfed.
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She said her daughters had been heartbroken over the cancelled June celebrations and had been talking about doing this for the last few months.
"They just love surfing. They're just water girls — they're always in the water," she said.
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The sisters have been wake surfing for three years, but Tatum said all the extra fabric made it tougher.
"It was a lot harder because it was so heavy," she said. "It felt good once we were up there wearing it, but in the water, not so much."
Tatum said her school will still hand out diplomas in small groups this June, but admits "it sucks" that the celebrations will be delayed indefinitely.
She offered a message, though, to her fellow 2020 graduates.
"Go out and have fun!"