People who came to an on-campus vaccine clinic at Delhi High School noticed a pep rally atmosphere. The setting was designed to put people at ease. Many hadn't seen each other in months.
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Student Supervisor Trishina Stafford screamed with excitement when she saw a colleague. She explained, "It's wonderful. I saw one of my co-workers and I was like ahhhhh. It was great."
After getting her first shot, Stafford couldn't wait to see her students.
The vaccine represented a layer of protection against a virus that has taken family and friends away from many Valley families.
Stafford said, "It's been difficult when you lose a loved one, especially over something you can't control. And then when you have friends on top of that, it's like a snowball effect."
Just 10% of the students at Delhi's high school and middle school have returned to campus.
Staff and parents alike worried their small community of over 12,000 would be forgotten in the vaccine rollout.
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Merced County leaders made sure that didn't happen.
Delhi High principal Cristian Miley said, "We have had a number of folks let us know that they so badly want to be back with their kids and that unfortunately, they have concerns at home. We've got a lot of multi-generational families. We've got young folks taking care of older folks."
500 Pfizer doses were administered to 295 employees and other eligible residents.
District Nurse Patricia Marsh said, "They're excited to finally have an opportunity to get the vaccine. Again, our goal is to have everyone back on campus and to get all the kiddos back learning in an environment where they thrive so we're very, very excited."
The Delhi Unified School District has five campuses. All will soon start to see more staffers return.