It's no surprise that the high school class of students that graduated this year have been completely hijacked of their senior year thanks to Covid-19. When the governor issued a state of emergency back in March many of the students were excited for a break. But that ended abruptly when they realized they would not be returning back to school for the remainder of the year. For younger students this was a celebration, but for the class of 2020 this was a year that would be terribly missed.
Empty school parking lots, quiet mornings and more time at home was how the last few months of high school was spent for teens all over the country. As news spread of the new corona virus, the economy seemed to shut down over night. After the governor issued a state of emergency, schools closed their doors and began ceasing virtual learning the best way they could. For the graduating class of 2020, this was a huge disappointment.
Not only would their days with their friends be cut short, their would be no prom, no sports and no after school activities. Everyone was told to stay home.
The news of this new virus spread fast and the cases of people becoming infected were increasing. This was a worldwide pandemic and these kids were the first graduating class to experience the effects of it.
As devastating as this was, the young adults in my daughter's senior class were not going to let this come to a bitter end. Shortly after schools closed, the community began intervening on social media to make this last year special for all the soon to be graduates. Someone started a FB page for all the graduating seniors and asked for parents to adopt them. The goal was to make the seniors last year feel special by gifting them, encouraging them and paying them a visit throughout the rest of the year even if it involved social distancing.
Shortly after this had started, I found out that this was a trend happening all over the nation.
And it was AMAZING!
As new information was coming out about the new virus, more restrictions an guidelines were put into place over the next few weeks and disappointment began to sink in a little deeper. The evidence showed that this virus was here to stay and it was becoming more apparent that there would be no graduation.
As the year started to come to an end, everyone wanted answers.
With pressure from all angles, the staff at the school my daughter attended, decided that they would find a way for the kids to graduate. Since the governor had not yet lifted the restrictions on gatherings of more than fifty people there was no way a traditional ceremony could be held. For a graduation to take place, the event would have to be thoroughly thought out and strategically planned. As the school year was coming to an end, the decision was finally made to have a ceremony that would take place over a period of four to five days. This would break the students up and allot each student ten minutes to graduate. Although there were no speeches, cap throwing or excessive cheering taking place it turned out to be just enough. In other parts of the country, students were graduating in as many creative ways as possible. Some were having a curbside diploma pickup and others were having outdoor ceremonies with masks and social distancing. As unfortunate as this may have been,
The Class of 2020 will always be remembered as the resilient group of young adults who pushed through it and made history.
Thanks for reading and have a blessed day!
