Items

• 2020-05-11

  COVID Graduation

  The day I had worked so hard for had finally come, and I sat on my couch to celebrate. Years of dedication, essays, long lectures, early morning lectures, scholarship hunting, and finals stress had all amounted to me celebrating my graduation in my pajamas. It didn't feel real. I cried for a while, and I think it was okay to cry. COVID-19 took away special things from everyone. It has taken away special loved ones, special plans, and special events/celebrations. For me and so many other college students, it took away a very special moment--the pride, sense of accomplishment, the payoff. Colleges around the country tried to imitate graduation the best they could with virtual ceremonies. Some ceremonies featured pictures and quotes from students, and most colleges provided an online commencement. I was too sad and frustrated to watch my commencement on the day of my graduation but watching it back has made me realize how much more my degree means to me.
• 
  2021-10-09

  Graduation 2020

  For my graduation ceremony in the summer of 2020, my school only allowed the students to attend the ceremony without bringing friends or family to watch the ceremony. Instead, my school decided to do a LIVE broadcast of the ceremony through their page on Facebook and their channel on YouTube. With that being said, my graduation party was kept small since this was midsummer. Through this, I was not able to bring my friends and family to campus for the ceremony in order to share with them that experience.
• 2020-03-19

  Life during Pandemic

  Life during pandemic has been crazy. From schools getting shutdown mid semester to half of the population in the world getting laid off from their job. The pandemic for me started when the schools got shutdown mid semester. University's and colleges went online during pandemic but high schools got shut down till the end of the year. I was a high school senior when the pandemic started. I was really happy at first to get a couple of days off from school, but the couple days turned into weeks and eventually in months. This would have been my high school graduation, the moment I had been waiting for years. But because of pandemic, almost no one from class of 2020 get to celebrate their graduation, the way they wanted. A couple of months after graduation, i went to start university. But it was not the university experience I imagined for myself. ASU went all online with zoom classes from home. I tried getting involved to see if that can make a difference in my college experience, but the involvements were also all online. One thing I learned during this whole pandemic was how important in person learning was. I did hear a lot of people complaining about not learning anything though zoom, but It actually happened to me. I had to use twice as much time going over lectures and quizzes than I would usually do. Because I would get distracted easily. On the other hand, during pandemic I also had a part time retail job. Even though half of the population in the U.S got laid off from their job, I actually worked double the shift during pandemic than I would normally work. I started working full time since the pandemic started till last month august, when the classes started in person. I did get to save tons of money to buy a car for myself. Thankfully during pandemic, no one from my family got covid-19, and we were all really safe. Overall, the pandemic was a crazy yet really wonderful experience for me because I not only learned importance of small things in our lives but also learned to always stay in touch with our family member and friends because you never know what will happen next.
• 
  2021-10-05

  COVID-19 vs. Me

  My story is raw and surely relatable by many of my peers. It captures the pandemic driven adversity I had dealt with during my senior year of high school as well as through my freshman year in college. It also includes a reflection that highlights our recent societal progression into a more normal and pandemic-free near future. This submission was simply meant to be another story regarding how COVID-19 has promoted upheaval and destruction in the lives of so many while reflecting on the current somewhat-improved state of the pandemic.
• 
  2020-06

  Virtual college graduation

  My daughter being congratulated by my father at her virtual college graduation at my home June 2020. Reminder of all of the important life cycle events that were cancelled or made virtual.
• 
  2021-10-03

  Ending High School at the Beginning of a Pandemic

  All of the fun memories that are normally reminisced upon later were replaced with stories of disappointment. My last two months of high school were basically stolen from me. COVID-19 stole the fun events that I deserved and worked twelve hard years for. A time that should have been filled with excitement and fun-filled memories with friends turned into memories of disappointment and separation. Everything that I was looking forward to at the end of high school was canceled. There was no in-person school, all sporting events, senior trips, prom, and graduation were canceled. The world turned virtual. I spent my days attending classes through Zoom not being able to truly interact with my classmates. I missed going out to get lunch with my friends and walking down the hallways talking about how much homework we got. I could not leave my house until the day came where we had to wear masks and social distance. My “prom” consisted of taking pictures with my friend and eating dinner at home rather than dancing the night away. My final goodbye to my teachers consisted of a drive-by car parade where we decorated our cars and were cheered on from afar. My graduation turned into a silent, empty auditorium allowing one parent or guardian to record me walking across the stage and receiving my diploma. I was extremely jealous that my Class of 2019 friends, just the year before, got the opportunity to experience all of the things that I didn’t. As a junior, I assisted the senior dessert and I remember how excited I was to be able to participate in it for my senior year. The disillusionment hit me when my senior dessert was driving to Crumbl Cookies, grabbing my cookie, and going home. All of these activities should have happened in-person surrounded by the smiling faces I’ve spent four years seeing, but instead I got a pandemic.
• 2020-06

  A Community Coming Together for High School Seniors

  As COVID began taking effect and schools started switching to virtual classes from home, one of my siblings became extremely upset. This was to be their senior year, and suddenly senior trip, prom, and graduation were being taken away from them. Such sentiments were shared throughout their entire class, and even gained attention through high school seniors at a national level. Inspired by similar movements across the country, however, parents and leaders across the community decided to act for these seniors. Out of nowhere an "Adopt a Child" movement began, and nearly a thousand of those within the community all contributed to giving these students gift baskets full of gift cards, apparel, and so forth. Businesses were even a major part of this movement; for example, a few pizza places offered to give out hundreds of free pies to students at extremely reduced prices for the parents sponsoring them. While nothing could likely make up for all that they had lost, this situation not only alleviated some of the sorrow amongst my own family members, but it demonstrated to me how strongly we can come together when those in our community need it.
• 
  2021-05-15

  Graduation: We Made It Work

  I was very lucky to graduate in Spring of 2021 from Eastern Connecticut State University, as my school managed to create a socially-distanced graduation for us. It was a tricky event for the university to handle, and commencement had to be divided into three ceremonies at various times. You had to wear a mask and each chair was placed six feet apart. Handshakes were skipped in favor of elbow bumps and air fives. Despite all the planning, the event was truly memorable and so special to me. In 2020 my father unexpectedly passed away (not COVID related). Being able to attend a "real" graduation in 2021 meant the world to me, as I felt like I had achieved something and was honoring his memory. Though COVID-19 has limited many events, I was fortunate to have participated in a commencement ceremony this past semester.
• 
  2020-04-09

  Grieving Rituals Lost to COVID-19

  Rituals are an important way to celebrate special occasions and victories as well as to deal with the stresses of life. This article discusses the grieving process people have gone through because of the loss of rituals (graduations, funerals, weddings) during the pandemic and the importance of creating new rituals.
• 
  2020-09-19

  PHOTOS: How The World Is Reinventing Rituals

  This article captures images of the continuations of and changes in rituals around the globe during the pandemic.
• 
  2021-05-22

  The Surprise Degree

  When I first began my MA program in Fall 2019, I thought it would be really, really funny to not tell anyone I was pursuing a second Master’s. I figured at some point, I would slip and end up mentioning it. But instead, all our lives changed with the pandemic, and since I didn’t see a person besides the four people I live with for almost 13 months, anyone discovering my graduate program was no longer even a consideration. The MA program actually helped me keep my sanity. In those first couple of months, when everything was up in the air, my courses were a constant. And then in the mundane of quarantine, they challenged my mind, distracted me, giving me something to do. Who knew the random genealogy class I took last summer would lead me to discover 1. that my biological great great grandfather died when my great grampa was only 9 2. that no one in our family knew this and assumed his step dad was his dad 3. that this mysterious biological great great grandfather was not a poor wheel maker from Germany, but was a salesman involved in some suspicious activities that involved a sister being sold (national news! In all the papers of the 1890s), a robbery and attack on him (with the ominous newspaper title “will it be murder” because he was presumed to not survive... he did), and ended with his dramatic suicide when the police were attempting to arrest him for embezzlement ... in front of my nine year old great grampa?!? How strange to think that without quarantine I would never have taken the time to research this (this investigation took over three months!) and my family would still think our ancestry on that side were German wheel makers who fled the Kaiser! When I finished my MA last month, we thought it would be funny to do a photo shoot (never did that for my other degrees) and post it on Instagram. I cannot believe the amount of comments. People were over the moon excited. I think seeing any positive surprise coming out the pandemic gives people hope. And my weird idea that it would be really funny to not tell anyone? Yeah, it was. No regrets.
• 
  2020-12-11

  Flagler College Graduation

  Flagler College had a socially distant graduation in the St. Augustine Amphitheater. Masks were required and graduates did not shake hands when they received their diploma. Each student was allowed two guests and had to enter a lottery to try and win extra tickets. There were two ceremonies, one for the Spring graduates of 2020 and the other for the winter graduates of 2020 on December 11th 2020.
• 
  2020

  A Photo Journal (2020-2021)

  This is a short photo journal of my life through the Covid-19 pandemic. It includes birthdays, quarantine life, graduation, protests, nature, and photoshoots. These are all important to me because these are the things that changed the most for me during this time. Birthdays changed from big parties to small gathering of friends or zoom meetings. Graduation turned from a big, movie-like event, to a closed-off, exclusive gathering. I began to explore myself more through photoshoots and Instagram. I became more informed on social injustice while I, a mixed woman, was able to help others understand my family's story. I got out into nature as inside became increasingly dangerous. Everything changed for me. For the better but it changed so much. I wanted to share my experience because it was such an important time for me.
• 
  2021-05-18

  2020 Senior, First Generation

  I experience COVID my senior year of 2020. I never thought Thursday before spring break was going to be the last time our senior class would have a normal day. I didn’t get to have a traditional graduation but I felt proud having a car graduation. I was the first one to graduate from my family and even if I didn’t get to walk the stage I was still happy. Happy that I graduated got handed my diploma.
• 
  2020-06

  Some Graduation Memes and Photos During the Coronavirus Time

  Graduations during 2020 were conducted remotely. This meant that the students missed out on an important and memorable ceremony to mark this milestone in their lives. All ages were affected. The students were mostly home, and some had videos either as a live feed or prerecorded. Families tried their best to make the occassion memorable for their kids. Some schoolz had car parades for their graduates to "march" in front of their school or neighbors.
• 
  2020-03-13

  The stolen year #REL101

  When covid-19 first arrived, I was a senior in high school getting ready to graduate. At the moment, I'm writing this; I am currently in college, finishing my freshman year. When I first heard about covid 19, i did not think it was going to affect me because, at the time, the government was telling us that it wasn't a big deal. But that later turned out to not be true when everything shut down on March 13th. Even after the virus proved to be much deadlier than previously thought the most of the government still pushed that covid 19 was not a risk or that it would just simply go away. At the time, I can remember being confused because people were clearly dying. Yet, the government was urging people to act like everything was normal. After that day, the world changed forever. Nothing was the same, not even school. After March 13th, my high school went entirely virtual, with the plan being to come back after two weeks. Still, eventually, those plans like prom or even a regular graduation were canceled. I remember this time of my life being kind of hard because everything was shut down, and the world seemed to fall into chaos. Around may is when I would say things reached the height of the chaos of 2020. In May of 2020, George Floyd died when it seemed like the world went up in smoke. There were protests and riots, a lot of which I think stemmed from both the death of George Floyd and tension resulting from decades of racial tensions. As a black person myself, at this time, I felt anger but seeing as though there was still a virus and violence on the streets, I did not go to any of the protests.
• 
  2021-03-09

  #JOTPYSilver from Nicole

  itsnicolegaston My silver lining is that more time at home allowed me to be able to spend time studying for my classes and the LSAT. I graduated from ASU in December, summa cum laude, and aced the LSAT. Over the past weekend I received my first law school acceptance with a scholarship offer. I probably would not be attending law school in the fall if the pandemic didn’t happen.
• 
  2020-08-14

  First Graduation During The Coronavirus Pandemic

  During senior year of high school we were subsequently sent home for what was supposed to be two weeks. Everyone was excited for our new break from school, but as the time came around to go back, we all got a call indicating that we will remain remote for the remainder of the year. Everyone, including myself, thought it was impossible for the virus to remain prominent all the way until our graduation, which was about a month out at the time. We firmly believed that we would certainly get the high school graduation that everyone dreams of. As days and weeks past, nothing from our administration about graduation and everyone began to get nervous. About a month later than previously scheduled, we were able to have our graduation, which allowed for no public speakers, limited attendance, social distancing (which seemed alien at the time to me) and about an hour time slot. In total it was by no means what I expected however it was a pivotal moment in my realization of the severity of the world we now live in with covid-19.
• 
  2021-03-13

  Friday the 13th...my last day at work

  This is a reflection of the first day that Covid affected me.
• 
  2021-03-31

  How the pandemic effects children. Oral history with Kalthoom Syed

  : In this interview I talked with Kalthoom about how the pandemic has affected her. She answers my questions thoroughly through examples and really indicating how things have affected her life. Kalthoom talks about how the lack of socializing has really affected her emotions along with the fact that through the year she has really become into a more quieter person. She also spoke about how to cope with the pandemic she has started to read as that helped her escape from reality. She mentions that she has missed her childhood due to the improper graduation of high school along with the lack of connections with friends that usually high schoolers have that have been affected due to the pandemic. She speaks about her younger brother who is studying through online learning and how that has really impacted his learning as he now has to learn everything by himself which is hard for a little kid. She ends off with speaking about how she bought birds to keep her company as the pandemic started to feel like it would never end.
• 
  2020-06-21

  A Class of 2020 Student's Covid Story

  When I was in the second grade, I remember my math teacher telling my whole class that we would be graduating high school in the year 2020. It seemed so long ago, like this far away land that didn't exist. We all smiled and chatted amongst ourselves about how 2020 was such a cool-sounding year and we liked having that year to look forward to. Elementary school became middle school which became high school and then it was my senior year all the sudden. My high school has a tradition in which seniors paint some boulders behind our school with our class colors and have a barbecue. At senior barbecue, we complained about how we just couldn't wait 7 more months until prom and graduation, and how excited we were for them. If only we had known that none of those things would happen. I remember in March of 2020 going to Chicago away from my hometown of Baltimore to visit the college I'd decided on, and the news was a storm of talk about a virus called covid-19. My high school friends were blowing up my phone with texts telling me that we were off school for 2 weeks and how "awesome" this was. I remember having a gut feeling that this would not be "awesome." Though everything virtually shut down from March to May, my 4 best friends from high school and I were luckily still able to have a somewhat normal summer safely; we went swimming in the lake by my house and camped and it forced us to actually get some exercise. I also was fortunate enough to still make some money over the summer at the childcare center I worked at. I was fortunate in those ways, but I think anyone would agree it just wasn't the same. I remember being heartbroken about prom and graduation at first, until it hit me that this was a problem so much larger than Dulaney High School in Maryland. Bigger than the east coast, bigger than all of America. This was a virus affecting virtually everyone on the planet. That mindset is crucial to keeping everyone safe; your parties can wait. Your trip to Disney can wait. I knew my prom and graduation being sacrificed was for a greater good. I've heard that your true character isn't how you act in your finest hour, but in your worst. I'd say COVID has become a identifier for that.
• 2020-03-20

  The Start of a Shutdown

  The date was March 20th, 2020. It was my best friend's birthday. Our friend group was preparing to throw a big party for her with lots of guests and food. We were all so excited for her to turn 18, finally able to vote. We were all also happy to be seniors and were looking forward to graduation and prom. March 20th will be forever cemented in my mind as the day it all went wrong. We found out that "Covid-19" was truly something very serious and our classes became virtual, no more seeing our friends in school. We couldn't have an in person birthday party for our friend, we couldn't hang out either. That day was so pivotal in all of our lives. We didn't know we would be stuck in quarantine for the next six months, we didn't know our graduation and prom would be canceled. We didn't know how much our daily lives would change. Sometimes, I wish I could go back to the pre-covid days. Everything seemed so simple then. No major pandemic, no masks, no overfull hospitals. But at the same time, as I reflect, quarantine has changed who I am as a person and has caused a lot of internal reflection and introspection. I feel like having to only see your family for six months makes you a better problem solver because you have to stay in the house and figure the issues out instead of going out and trying to brush it off. Overall, Covid is horrible and has caused so much loss. However, we need to also see the somehow positives that have come from this awful situation.
• 
  2021-02-24T13:24:52

  A 2020 Senior's Experience

  Link to my Story https://eaglefgcu-my.sharepoint.com/:w:/g/personal/vdearmas2389_eagle_fgcu_edu/EfbXTEMivQhBlns1iufe0PUBKjsdXqzsQvBkamaxWh4YAg?e=IwR5k3
• 
  2020-07-29

  An Interesting End to High School

  Everyone wonders what their senior year of high school will be like. After three years of studying and planning for college, students look forward to a relaxed final year typically filled with senior trips, dances, movie nights, and graduation. Though I was lucky to have a few normal months, once March 13th passed everything changed. We were told that it was only supposed to be two weeks but then two weeks turned into 3 months, which meant no Prom, senior trip, or movie night. Obviously, missing these is not terrible compared to the tragedies that have happened, but it is still sad to miss out on these traditions. Many high schools decided to hold virtual graduations, so at least they would have some type of ceremony. Since my high school class was so small, my school was able to hold a small socially distanced graduation outside. Some precautions they took were placing six feet apart, everyone had to wear a mask, and each student were only allowed to have two guests. They also hosted it in the middle of the summer since cases in my community had decreased so significantly. This was not going to be a regular graduation, but it was better than nothing. It was scorching on the morning of July 29, 2020 when we all sat outside in our bright blue caps and gowns. Everyone was sweating crazy, but nobody complained because it was better than the alternative of a virtual graduation. I went to a Catholic school, so there was usually a mass before the ceremony, but they wanted us to be congregated for the least amount of time as possible. The school decided to include music usually sung in church, so that they could include some form of the faith into the ceremony. Besides that one detail, almost everything else was the same as past graduations. We had graduation speeches from teachers and students who always included “I understand that this hasn’t been a normal senior year”. That became redundant very quickly. Then they called us up to get our diplomas from the bishop. Instead of shaking hands the bishop decided to fist bump everyone, which I thought was funny because how many people can say they did that. They did it to limit contact even though a handshake and fist bump practically cause an equal amount of exposure. After we all received them, the principle said some final remarks and gave us the go to throw our caps. I remember being extremely nervous because I thought I would lose my cap. I had nothing to worry about though because my throw was pretty lousy. Everyone was cheering so excited that finally we had finished high school. Pictures were taken, but everyone stayed within small friend groups, so that not too many people were in contact. My friends and I then celebrated as we used to every day after school and got coffee. This was not the most exciting end to a crazy four year, but it was enough. I will forever remember this experience because in the mist of all the chaos, life felt normal again.
• 2021-02-12T15:27:16

  The Year to End High School

  Coronavirus hit the United States during my senior year, and it made things very difficult. No one was really worried about coronavirus at the beginning of 2020, but when March hit people started to realize that coronavirus was more serious. March 12, 2020 was my last day of in-person high school and I had no idea. I did not get to go to the actual last day of in-person high school because I had a respiratory infection at the time. Halfway through the day on March 13, 2020, is when they decided to close all schools in the U.S. for two weeks. All of the kids in my grade thought it was only going to last two weeks and then we would be back in school to finish the year, but that didn’t happen. After the two weeks off, they gave an extra couple of days off to figure out how to change completely to online learning. We ended up finishing the year online and although my classes got easier, my life got so much harder. I am an essential worker that works for a long-term care facility and when I was not doing school or schoolwork, I would be at my job doing as much as I possibly could to keep my residents fed and safe. I had a lot on my plate at the beginning of the pandemic with balancing school and work and trying to figure out how to still have a social life while staying in my house. I also had to be very careful with whatever I did because I needed to protect my parents who are sixty years old and seventy years old and also protect my residents who are mostly sixty or older. Since I was so busy working and doing school nothing hit me until May when the school decided to cancel prom and graduation. This hit me hard because I worked so hard for twelve years to now get nothing. I worked so hard to have all A’s in middle school and high school and be on the honor roll all of those years to not even get to celebrate my achievement. I had one night when I was thinking about all of it and I ended up having an anxiety attack and crying to my sister all night because I was so upset with how I was ending my senior year. I eventually got over it and starting college was such a weird experience it’s been so hard to make friends with people and we haven’t been able to have normal college experiences. Now that it is almost a year after the schools closed there are now two vaccines out and I have been able to receive both rounds of it because of my work, but there are still so many that need to receive the vaccine and we still have a long time before we return to normal.
• 
  2020-06-16T20:08:07

  Covid trip 2020

  Well the pandemic hit my school in the early week of March and we were only sent home for two weeks. As soon as we were ready to go back, we were sent home for two months after the first dismissal. After all that was informed, we actually stayed at home for the rest of our senior year. We missed out on our prom and that is something we looked forward to and something you cannot get back. After prom we normally go to a cabin and just enjoy ourselves after the dance, which is a highlight of any high schoolers life. Our past junior year, we had prom and proceeded to get a cabin on Lake Erie and it was an amazing experience. In the summer of 2019, all of my high school friends took a trip to Ocean City Maryland for about a week and that was our so called senior trip even though we we Juniors, let alone we did not know what would happen in 2020. Once we graduated, we decided we needed to end our horrible senior year with something we would remember. We decided to take a five day trip down to Hilton Head. It was convenient since my one friend moved down there for her college and she already had a place down there. We could not stay there because she just moved in, but we got a house very close to hers and it was right next to the water. This was pretty much our final goodbye before we all went to college so we took it all in and enjoyed our final summer together. When we were down there, it did not even feel like the virus was going around, no one had to wear a mask, families were every where with their kids, and it seemed like everyone got lost in the real world. This image is important to me because they are my boys, everything we do, we do together and that picture will hold memories. It will hold what happened in 2020, the virus that went around, and the last summer we enjoyed together.
• 
  2020-04-23

  what to do after you graduate in a pandemic

  This is an article talking about what someone should do after graduating from college in a pandemic. I felt this was an important article to include in this collection because not only is it important to know what the graduations were like but it is also important to know what someone did after graduation. Jobs were very hard to come by and unemployment was at an all time high during these times and after graduation usually someone goes and gets a job with that degree but with businesses closing it is hard to find one. This article gives tips and tricks on how to obtain a job during this pandemic as well. This article explains how any job is a good job in a pandemic which is very true. The article also explains that it is normal to feel discouraged at this time and to not give up. The pandemic will end and jobs will come back.
• 
  2021-02-07

  2021 ASU Graduation?

  This story tells of my experience of hoping for a spring 2021 graduation. It is important because it captures my feelings about it and shows how closures are still happening in 2021 like they did in 2020.
• 2021-01-24

  My Student Staff Lost Their Graduations

  I manage a staff of Math and Science student tutors for one of the Arizona State University campuses. In early 2020, five of my staff were seniors who started to get excited about their upcoming May graduations. As COVID-19 started spreading, they began to worry that their commencements would not take place. Sadly, they were correct. It was heartbreaking watching them try to accept that their last four to five years of study would not culminate into the graduations they were so looking forward to experiencing. I tried to comfort them by reminding them that all of their hard work these last several years was about to pay off in a future that would provide them many opportunities to succeed. It did not comfort them. Next, I tried to put into words that although their disappointment was valid, their ultimate goal was not walking across a stage but instead to realize their dreams of becoming scientists, mathematicians, medical doctors, etc. It did not help. In the end, it was what it was. There was nothing I could say to make them feel better. In retrospect, what could possibly have been said to comfort these students who may very well have been the first group since the Spanish Flu pandemic that would not experience a traditional university graduation? This was not a time for words. It was just a time to be there if they needed someone to listen and vent to without judgement. True to form, these five did apply to medical and graduate schools, and forensic science positions. I know great things are in store for them. Hopefully, if this pandemic has taught them anything, it is perseverance in the face of adversity. To not give up and keep moving forward.
• 2021-01-21

  MW: Travel Nurses

  My sister apparently graduated nursing school at the best and worst time. The tragedy of watching COVID-19 has left the hospital inundated and patients dying. The fear of coming home and being infected. However, new opportunities have presented themselves. My sister is working as a travel nurse for COVID units and this is a rather lucrative situation. If you knew how much these travel nurses were getting paid your mouth would drop. Let's just say the doctors at the hospital are getting jealous.
• 2021-01-01

  New year, new goals

  For this new year I have many goals and aspirations. One of them being that COVID goes away (I know that is not how it works). I want to go back to regular life and be able to see everyone’s smiles. I do not want to be shamed for going out to get food instead of staying home 24/7. I do not want to have to take my temperature three times before going to work. Something else I want to change, is that I want to stop living through historical events. I am a history major and I prefer to read history books, not live through them. It seems that in 2020, if it wasn't something that was going wrong, it was another. I will be graduating in May and one of my biggest goals, although I do not have control over it, is to have a ceremony. I am a first generation graduate and I know my family and friends have been waiting for this day. I also want to get into graduate school and continue my education journey and continue to grow. This year I seem to have a lot more goals and resolutions than I have in the years past.
• 2021-01-17

  New Year Same Year

  Starting off this year I was dogsitting for a friend. 2020 was hard on me as it was for everyone else in the world but there was something peaceful about ending a year with comforting a bed hog of a dog that was scared of fireworks. Waking up the next day to feed her and go about my first day of 2021 I felt at peace, almost like perhaps this year would be drastically different for me. I'm about to graduate college, we have a new governmental administration that I hope will be more favorable to me, and COVID vaccines are on their way. Then we had an insurrection and I refused to open canvas for the first week of school because every time I tried I was gripped with terror at the thought that this would be my last semester in college meaning that I had to be a real adult soon. There is no functional difference that the exchange from 2020 to 2021 brought to my physical or emotional state. Like everyone else, I'm excited for COVID to be over but I know that the changes I need have to come from myself and won't be ushered in by a new year new me mentality. Throughout 2020 I spent time trying to reach out for help with my mental health and other things I had been struggling with. I think the thing I'm most excited about in 2021 is continuing the work I've started in a world that isn't so hard to be in. I want 2021 to be a year that I am able to spend working on myself and building into a fully functioning member of society.
• 
  2021-01-14T18:43:30

  The Sounds, Smells, and Experiences of a COVID Graduation

  As the year 2020 ushered in my family and I had many events we were looking forward to, one event was my son’s high-school graduation. Once COVID hit his ceremony got postponed, and then it was turned into a drive-thru graduation ceremony. I felt happy my son’s graduation ceremony was still happening, but sad for both my son and me too. Since, my son would miss out on the traditional aspects of a high-school graduation ceremony, and I felt sad for myself because I did not get to attend my own high-school graduation; so it had meant a lot to me to see him experience what I did not get to at a traditional high-school graduation ceremony. On the day of my son’s drive-thru graduation ceremony, I was driving and my hands were dry and slippery from the hand sanitizer, I constantly put on for protection from COVID, both factors therefore made it hard to focus totally on the visuals of the event; and also impacted my ability to get a lot of video and pictures at the event. These circumstances I feel made me fixate on all the sounds and smells just as much as the visuals in front of me while experiencing the graduation. While waiting in the car line to get to the graduation stage the graduation speeches were streamed from a local radio station. The speeches I heard given by chosen student speakers referenced at times the sadness they felt due to the senior events cancelled due to COVID. When usually speakers at graduations express sadness, but the class of 2020 had a unique sadness and that is the effects COVID had on their senior year. As my son and I approached the commencement stage we both put our masks on, the smells of my car were replaced by the stale air I breathed within my mask that I had become all too familiar with since the start of COVID. My son got out of the car to walk across the commencement stage. The sounds I heard from the car were kind of distant, and made me feel like I was watching the ceremony from a different location. At the end of the day, while watching my son walk across the graduation stage, all my feelings and different observations before the event subsided and I felt nothing but proud of my son. Along with I felt grateful for the people who put together the graduation, for some of the unique sensory experiences I may not have focused on as much in pre-COVID times, and for the event since it could have been canceled because of COVID. If anything COVID implications provided many unique aspects to my son’s graduation ceremony that may come to give more meaning to it in the long run then a traditional graduation ceremony. The video clip I submitted is one of a few captured memories I have of the graduation; and it’s an example of the distant sounds of the graduation I heard while viewing it from my car.
• 
  2020-10-05

  Senior Year in NYC: The Monumental Moments - You Made It!

  COVID-19 has hurt all students’ worlds by cutting into and diminishing experiences and traditions;we saw the Class of 2020 lose out on formal graduation ceremonies and now the Class of 2021 has started the year in a frenzy of masks and toasts to hoping for a normal ceremony by May 2021. **Fordham University, SOCI2200
• 2020-09-18

  Isabella's Story

  In this article, Isabella Simonetti discusses how she never imagined little things in her life not going as planned before March, but now her life has been totally flipped upside-down. Along with changes in her school life and work life, Isabella was also one of the people who had their 21st birthday look a little different because of the pandemic. She mentions how she felt as though celebrating at all was a betrayal in itself. Towards the end of her article, she makes what I believe to be a very important observation about the pandemic. Isabella says, “Since March, my life has become less about managing expectations and more about not knowing what to expect at all. While I loathe uncertainty, I’ve found comfort in taking a step back, being grateful for what I have, and knowing that things are so crazy and ever-evolving that I just can’t expect anything at all.” The idea of living in the moment and being grateful for what you have is one of the most important lessons we can all take away from this pandemic experience, 21st birthday edition or not. This collection item demonstrates something significant about my generation under COVID. Learning that unexpected changes are not the end of the world and making the right decisions for the safety of you and others was a huge thing 1999 babies were faced with this year.
• 
  2020-12-01

  Graduation pack

  Since the graduation has been canceled due to COVID-19, the graduation package had to be shipped to students and let us keep it until it is safe to hold the actual ceremony on campus. I received mine on Dec. 1st, the ceremony was supposed to be hold on Dec. 12 online. I don’t know if the ceremony will be hold in the near future, but I believe that it won’t be what we’ve imagined it. I won’t be able to see all my friends together again, some of us graduated and went to other countries because of the unfriendly policy to international students, and I don’t even know if I will ever see them again.
• 
  2020-12-10

  The most memorable curation

  The most memorable story that I have curated was an email by the president of Washington and Lee University. In the email, President William Dudley announced that the on-campus classes will be suspended for the rest of the semester and instructions will be shifted to an online model. Students affairs, competitions, performances, and graduation ceremonies had to be canceled to ensure students’ safety. Before the pandemic, he would watch students and faculties walking to classrooms as he walked to work every morning, he would pass by and see sports teams practicing in the field in the afternoon, and now everything was gone. For graduating seniors, he expressed his sorry for what they will miss. Although professors were trying their best to learn new technologies and most of the students' events will be online, nothing will be the same. What aches me the most is a sentence from President Dudley’s email, “In June, a campus without students is peaceful. In March, it is eerie and sad.” I could not help but imagine what it is like at University of San Francisco. Is it like a ghost town? Every time I think about it, I regret that I did not look at it for the last time. I remember the last time when I was on campus, it was the day before spring break, and I walked out of theology class with my friend. We were discussing what we should do during the spring break. We had to cancel our plans to travel to Hawaii because of the pandemic. Although the U.S has not taken any precautions at that time, we learned from the news that there were several confirmed cases in travelers who have recently been to Hawaii. After debating and hesitating for days, eventually, we decided to cancel the trip although the flight tickets were non-refundable because we did not want to take the risk of exposing ourselves to the virus. Every Chinese student I knew made the same decision. What happened to our home country made us realize how harmful this virus could be. On the way walking out of the campus, I was texting and discussing should we stock some disinfectant and stay at home for the whole spring break with my friend, I could never imagine that it was the last time I walked on campus and saw USF. It hurts my heart when I try to remember what it was like to walk on campus, how the St. Ignatius Church would shine under the sunset; I hate myself for not looking at everything for the one last time because I was busy texting. Shortly, USF announced online classes for the rest of the semester and I returned to China within weeks. When the fall 2020 semester was announced to be online, I first made the decision to take a gap semester because I want to spend my last semester with friends, and most importantly, to celebrate the graduation ceremony with my friends and family on campus. However, with the U.S. government putting visa restrictions on Chinese and the conflict between the U.S and China getting more serious, I began to fear that if I do not complete my degree now, there could be a possibility that I never would. Yesterday, I finished my last class in college life and my virtual graduation ceremony is only days away. I envy those seniors who graduated before me, they had a chance to celebrate with families and friends, they had a chance to say goodbye to their college life; I envy those who will graduate in the following years, they will have the chance to celebrate their graduation ceremony on campus. Everything that has ever happened in the past months seems like a dream. Only if I know how to end this dream.
• 2020-12-08

  Graduating with a Pandemic: Derby High School

  A thing that relates to the topic of COVID-19 for me and the jornal of the plague year is the topic graduation. I was luckily able to have a graduation from my school. But I was not able to have graduation until five to six months later. My graduation was the day after I moved into college. A passage I found super interesting in the journal of the plague year was a passage called “High School Graduation:Quarantine Style”. And just like I said earlier their story is just like mine. Unlike them we were only allowed to have two people in our family come and unfortunately for them they were allowed to have nobody. Imagine not being able to graduate and then not be able to look at your family after. Not being able to see the smile on you Dad’s face and the tears running down your mother’s face is something that only happens once in a lifetime. Being able to graduate though, was such an honor. I was just so glad to finally be able to graduate with my friends. Going through those four long drastic years of high school was not easy at all. Especially since I played three sports I was always on the go. But receiving that diploma after and knowing you made it, all your hard work paying off, that is what you live for. Being able to see your principal call you by your name then hand you the diploma, nothing better than that. “Although it wasn’t the graduation/end of senior year that we wanted, the strength of our community consistently shone through all obstacles the pandemic presented to us”. This relates to the city of Derby so much. The precautions we took and everyone not agreeing with it was so amazing to me. My principal worked his butt off to pull off something like this. Crazy thing was he was the first person to say no for graduation because he was scared of coronavirus. So for him to put himself in one of the shoes of his seniors and make graduation was phenomenal. “we were spread apart across the football field, wearing masks in 90 degree heat, and received our diploma in rows”. This is literally the exact same setup as my graduation. But luckily for me it was not ninety degrees outside and it was later in the day. I remember walking on that football field and just seeing how everyone was being spreaded out and going on in my head was “I made it, I made it”. When I received my diploma to me at that point I finally knew I was officially on my own. I was just by myself in the world. Well I still had my parents and stuff but I do not live with them anymore. So after I rang the bell at my school I officially knew that I was all grown up. It was me versus the world and after I heard that gong I knew it was gametime.
• 
  2020-12-02

  Oral History of Flynn Connelly 2020/12/02

  This oral history is a retelling of what it was like to attend college, graduate from college, and then hunt and find a job during the Covid-19 global pandemic.
• 
  2020-05-16

  The One Where We Were Quarantine

  This is a chalk drawing that my friends and I made when we learned we would not being going back to school. This was very difficult because of the fact we were seniors had didn't get all the special things our last year . We wanted to make our mark on the school in a way that would show the school how much we loved coming every day. We went to the school and made this in the parking spots we usually parked in every day. This ended up going on the local news and the school website.
• 
  2020-06-20

  Being a High School Senior During a Pandemic

  As a high school senior, I was looking forward to my long awaited graduation. I had the honor and burden of being a student at Boston Latin School, the oldest public high school in America for 6 years, and all the stress, mental exhaustion, and all-nighters had finally paid off. I had been to my older brother's graduation in 2004, and the year 2020 was supposed to be my turn to walk across the stage and receive my diploma. Instead, the world had another idea, and Friday, March 13, 2020 would be the last day I stepped into the school building for class. Not only did I miss out on graduation, but also other senior year traditions as well. I didn't get to chant "It's all over" at lunch time, I didn't get to count down last few seconds on the last day of school, and worst of all, I didn't get to say good-bye to all my friends. Even though I'm wearing my cap, gown, and cord in the picture, what I got was still not a graduation. Instead, everyone showed up to school for a drive-thru diploma pickup. That was not what I waited six years for, but I appreciate the BLS faculty's consideration. Now I'm a Freshman at Northeastern University, and things couldn't be better.
• 2020-11-30

  Finding The Sun Through The Clouds.

  2020 is being described as the worse year of modern times. The year started off with an international crisis in the middle east, a series of devasting natural disasters, and of course the widespread pandemic of Covid-19. The pandemic ignited a financial crisis, and many people lost their jobs. As to date, the virus has claimed 1.46 million lives worldwide. It is understandable why so many people are biding their time, praying for this disastrous year to finally end. As I reflected back on the year, I am conflicted on my opinions on it. Covid-19 ruined my senior year of high school. I lost my graduation, my prom, and spring sporting events. I was forced to quarantine for many months in the springs, unable to see my close friends. My summer was lackluster due to the restrictions placed on my community. For my first semester in college I hoped to study abroad, however, Covid squandered that adventure too. I could look back on this year with a pessimistic mindset; however, that would be an untruthful interpretation of this year. This year has contained so many wonderful things, which have had a positive impact on my life. After years of persevering in high school, I finally got accepted into my dream college. I got into my first serious relationship with a wonderful girl. And despite Covid restrictions, I have been able to make so many new and lasting friendships in college. It is easy to write 2020 off as an awful year and put forth and effort to forget about it. However, I believe it is important to reflect on the positive events of this year. Ignoring the good things from 2020 will only strengthen its negative effects for years to come. If one can find the positives of 2020 then the year would not have been a complete waste.
• 
  2017-10-16

  Jewish Melbourne: Jewish Women of Words - Lisa Farber

  This is an article by Lisa Farber, talking about her child finishing school in 2020, during the pandemic
• 
  2020-11-20

  Student Coping with COVID and Study Abroad

  In this interview, I, Hailey, am interviewing Sofia about how she has handled stress before and after COVID. I ask her about how she's made adjustments to her coping mechanisms and how she is handling graduating during COVID and having been abroad during COVID as well. The COVID-19 pandemic uprooted a lot of our lives and our plans we had for the future. It is about making adjustments when necessary and learning to cope and be positive!
• 
  2020-11-16

  St. Mary’s Graduation Planner

  College can be very difficult, and it is very common for it to be harder for freshmen. Now add the stress of a freshmen along with a global pandemic; it can be very difficult for freshmen to stay on track. St. Mary’s University, however, is combating this by mailing and handing out graduation plans booklets to all freshmen. These booklets contain a handy graduation plan along with a planner and schedule imbedded inside the pages. Personally, I’ve found the book to be extremely useful in my studies and greatly encourage others to use it during these difficult times. Over all, I thought it was very comforting for the university to do this when the pandemic has left a lot of freshmen feeling unsure and lost.
• 
  2020-06-16

  Class of 2020 Celebrated by a Rural Community

  The rural community of Tuttle, Oklahoma honored their class of 2020 high graduates with a sign made out of a round bale of hay. The round bale was located just off of State Highway 37 next to the Tuttle Grain & Supply. As part of the creativity, the bale had a sign saying: "Class of 2020" with comments such as "Proud of You!" and "Congrats!" as well as "Great Job!" The sign then covered the face of the hay bale in the design of a large face mask. The community was acknowledging the circumstances that altered the 2020 senior year and graduation to be a smaller event.
• 2020-07-19

  COVID Graduation

  On March 13th, 2020, my school like many others got the shocking news that we would have to shut down for a few weeks. At first I remained positive and said to my friends, "It'll only be a few weeks". However, I was very wrong. As the months went on, the time was extended more and more and my school and I become more and more discouraged. When we heard the news that our graduation would be temporarily cancelled and we would not be going back to school, the grade was devastated. My friends and I all facetimed together and cried over all the hard work we had done that may culminate in an online graduation. Our principals and school board did however work extremely hard to be able to hold an outdoor socially distanced graduation. I was extremely excited by this news. No matter what it looked like my grade and I would be able to celebrate the end of high school all together. Our school set up chairs 6ft apart where we the students would sit with our parents on the turf. The day of the graduation was the hottest and day of the summer and the sun was blazing down on all of us. Our school provided us with umbrellas in our school colors, blue and white, and gave the students BHS masks. Our principal began the ceremony in the traditional way, starting with a speech then calling up our class president. Later our vice principals were called to the stage to start their speeches. About halfway into the speech, they started to sing a COVID themed rap to the song "Alexander Hamilton". It was definitely untraditional however, it was amazing and it was the talking point of the day. We all walked across the stage and picked up our diplomas from a table so there would be no contact with anyone else. Overall, our COVID graduation was such a fun day and even though it was different than usual, it was such a nice way to celebrate finishing high school during such a crazy year.
• 
  2020-06-09

  Graduating in Pajamas

  This is a screen-recording video of a FaceTime with two of my close friends. The morning of June 9, 2020 was the set date for my school's graduation. However, due to COVID-19, a large in-person gathering with 560+ students and our family members was not possible. Our graduation was moved online so while watching the graduation video in our pajamas at home, my friends and I FaceTimed so we could turn our tassels together. This graduation was obviously not like anything we expected, since under normal circumstances we'd be able to walk across the stage and shake our principal's hand while receiving our diploma. Under normal circumstances our graduating class and teachers and family and friends would be together as a whole, as we move on to the next stage in our lives. This year we had to use technology to try and give us the same feeling of togetherness, which was disappointing but very understandable considering the dire circumstances of the pandemic. We were still able to laugh and smile and try to make the most of the situation, and not lose the excitement in moving onto the next chapter of college.
• 
  2020-11-10

  Life in a Digital World

  For millions of people, the blue and white logo of the digital video meeting service, Zoom, has become a familiar sight. I am sure that many of us, like myself, had to abruptly learn about Zoom in March 2020 when our lives entered a digital phase due to the pandemic. I’m sure that I am also similar to many others when I can now say that (in November 2020) I am more than proficient in my Zoom skills. Everything from school to work to social meetings are now conducted by sending Zoom invitation links. Zoom has become the classroom, the office, and the cafe…..possibly without even changing the room you are sitting in. This year has not been easy but, as I look back over these past months, I have realized that the technological world has become a surprising lifesaver. Technology has allowed people to stay connected to the world without even stepping outside their homes. Phone calls, emails, texts, Zoom meetings….they have all played a part in keeping us close to our family and friends. Even my college graduation in May was conducted over Zoom. We moved our tassels as one graduating department, even as we sat in front of our separate computers in different locations! I have started my first semester at graduate school this fall at a Pittsburgh university. My classes are conducted through Zoom, so I am not actually on campus or living in the city! While I miss in-person social interactions, I am also incredibly grateful that, thanks to digital tools and dedicated professors, I have been able to continue my education despite this year’s difficult circumstances. Interestingly, despite global lockdowns, I have been able to “visit” parts of the world I would not normally be able to, due to institutions’ and organizations’ commitment to providing virtual experiences. From our home, my family and I have watched theatrical performances, concerts, and other events occurring in different geographical areas because of the ability to livestream. We have also been exploring various museums by taking virtual tours and looking through virtual collections. Through technology, I have been able to learn about and experience events and places that I would not have been able to otherwise! Eventually, this pandemic will be over. I hope, however, that institutions and organizations continue to reach out digitally even when it is safe to resume in-person group activities. Digital programs and projects allow people to participate in events and experiences that might have been too costly in travel expenses or time commitments had they only been offered in traditional, in-person formats. Regardless, I am grateful for what digital programming and technology have already given me. This year has been incredibly stressful and filled with anxiety. Sometimes, it has made all the difference to be able to connect with a few people over a Zoom meeting. In the end, the Zoom logo has come to signify many things to me: pandemic, prevalence of digital technology, and, when it comes down to it, the importance of human connectivity and relationships.
• 
  2020-11-07

  Graduation in 2020

  This is a meme about how COVID has affect the graduation of the class of 2020. As a member of the class of 2020, I can definitely relate to this. I was really looking forward to my high school graduation. Even though we had somewhat of a very small ceremony only a few members of our family could come and it wasn’t how I dreamed of it. A big reason we couldn’t have the normal ceremony was the cause of the rules and restrictions put in place by our government. Gatherings of a certain number were not allowed and masks had become mandatory because of our government.