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Collected Item: “A COVID Graduation”

Give your story a title.

A COVID Graduation

What sort of object is this: text story, photograph, video, audio interview, screenshot, drawing, meme, etc.?

This is a story about a high school graduating class that had an in-person graduation and shortly after, someone tested positive for COVID. I found this online on a local Jacksonville news station which had a link to the school’s Facebook page.

Tell us a story; share your experience. Describe what the object or story you've uploaded says about the pandemic, and/or why what you've submitted is important to you.

I found this story of an in-person graduation to be a bit tragic story. This is because people wanted to believe that COVID was simply ignored in some states. While living in NC we had people that felt that it was just too little risk to slow down large gatherings, we also had restrictions that prevented this exact behavior. I saw many people were doing graduations online, and some were just not even having graduations at all. But this article shows that there was an attempt to hold this ceremony with indications that people were maybe encouraged to wear masks, but they were not mandatory. While there is no indication of more COVID positive people after the graduation, there is a sense of dread to have to go be tested especially after what should be a cause for celebration.

Use one-word hashtags (separated by commas) to describe your story. For example: Where did it originate? How does this object make you feel? How does this object relate to the pandemic?

#LostGraduation, #ASU, #HST485, #Florida, #COVIDPositive, #NoGraduation

Enter a URL associated with this object, if relevant.

https://www.news4jax.com/news/local/2020/06/23/attendees-at-bradford-county-graduation-tested-positive-for-covid-19/

Who originally created this object? (If you created this object, such as photo, then put "self" here.)

Photo taken from Bradford county school systems Facebook page

Give this story a date.

2020-06-23
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