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graduation
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2020-05-30
Having a Graduation during a Pandemic
COVID-19 impacted my senior year from the beginning and certainly still today. In my final year before college, students are given multiple opportunities that because of COVID, I was not able to do. To name some, my March of the Living trip got cancelled, my spring break trip with my friends got cancelled, the rest of my senior year got cancelled and put on Zoom, my graduation was very untraditional, etc. I attended Miami Country Day School for the last 12 years and I was so excited to get to walk and get my diploma in my own graduation. Unfortunately due to COVID-19, things were extremely different. At first, my school had decided to postpone graduation until December or COVID was not a huge impact to everyone's life. However, everyone fought and it resulted to an untraditional graduation. My school hosted for us a "drive-in" ceremony on the Barry University's campus. The ceremony was outside, everyone was social distanced, and the cars with family were lined up around the ceremony stage allowing my class to celebrate as a community. All families would honk for their friends and families. I say this ceremony was untraditional because everyone was able to decorate their cars with everything associated with their new school for the next 4+ years. I was extremely upset when I found out my graduation was going to be this way but it was by far one of the most special moments in my life. Even though I did not get the same graduation as everyone in the past years, I know that my high school did everything they could to make that moment extremely special because they know all the opportunities that we lost due to COVID-19. -
2020-04-01
Covid Graduation Meme
I am submitting it because I thought it was a good meme that tells a lot not only about what is currently happening in the world but also peoples attitudes at the time. -
2020-04-07
Robot Graduation
A new reality for some graduates is a graduation prompted by limited people and digital technology. -
2020-11-06
Adopt a Senior 2020
In my hometown of Corvallis Oregon, after March 13th the class of 2020 never entered the doors of our high schools again. Anything we left in our lockers and classrooms was put in garbage bags and handed to us from 6 feet away. Our graduation ceremony was a parade of cars through the backroads of my hometown. A mother at my high school decided this wasn’t fair, we needed to have another type of celebration. Mealoha McFadden created a facebook group to “adopt” 2020 seniors in our county and shower them with gifts and praise. Many people got their favorite candies, snacks and others got starter kits for college. In my adoption care package, I got a tool set for my dorm, lots of candy, my favorite soda and a note praising my accomplishment. Although times were especially hard in my hometown, there was a glimmer of happiness when a senior got their gifts. -
2020-06-03
Final Day of Distance Learning
My 6 year old finished her kindergarten year at home due to COVID 19. Her teacher put together a "yearbook" for her as well as a "class ring" and a gift. My daughter's first year of school was not what she nor I expected but her teacher was fantastic and made the best of it. -
2020-04-21
Generation Pandemic
This magazine which came out along with the article at the start of the pandemic reflected a general attitude of a generation stuck in time because of the pandemic, the graduation balloons hanging defeatedly in the background. -
2020-10-29
Reddit Title: My Friend Graduating During Covid!
This is a Reddit post by /u/Da_bigmacwillis whose title reflects the celebratory nature of graduation with the contrasting tough times of COVID, and a joyous graduate. -
2020-06-06
A Redeemed Graduation
My friend, who has autism, was very excited to graduate from High School. He spent years struggling with behavioral issues, enduring the isolation that comes from being an atypical kid in a school that had not prioritized his needs. When the pandemic hit, it hit him particularly hard. He had a specific routine, one which included restaurants, public parks, travel, all of which had been cut short by the drastic effects of the pandemic. He had regressed in a lot of his behaviors and he became very isolated. He still continued with his education, and by Summer of 2020, he was to graduate, but was upset when learning that it would be only a Zoom graduation. However, local parents in my city got together and went outside with balloons out of their cars and honked to celebrate his graduation while his Mom gifted him his diploma. It was a very encouraging thing to know that all aspects of society, even those silenced voices, were considered and accommodated where possible in these troubling times. -
2020-06-04
A Redeemed Graduation
My family friend, who has autism, was very excited to graduate from High School. He spent years struggling with behavioral issues, enduring the isolation that comes from being an atypical kid in a school that had not prioritized his needs. When the pandemic hit, it hit him particularly hard. He had a specific routine, one which included restaurants, public parks, travel, all of which had been cut short by the drastic effects of the pandemic. He had regressed in a lot of his behaviors and he became very isolated. He still continued with his education, and by Summer of 2020, he was to graduate, but was upset when learning that it would be only a Zoom graduation. However, local parents in my city got together and went outside with balloons out of their cars and honked to celebrate his graduation while his Mom gifted him his diploma. It was a very encouraging thing to know that all aspects of society, even those silenced voices, were considered and accommodated where possible in these troubling times. -
2020-08-14
Class Sticker
Recently my sister graduated from Practitioner school but unfortunately wasn't able to have a traditional graduation. I still wanted to celebrate the best way I could because this was a huge accomplishment, so I searched the internet for funny little things to get her and I found this perfect sticker. She loves Friends and it worked perfectly for the situation we are in. It also led me down a rabbit hole of other satirical products related to the pandemic that I thought was super funny. I'm happy that people are able to make the best of this weird time. -
2020-10-21
COVID Graduation
Here’s a photo of my cousin I posted on Instagram. She just finished nursing school in Mexico. She’s a single mom, has a full time job and is graduating with honors today. I’m so happy for her finally living her dream. Like many around the world, COVID has affected her graduation. -
2020-09-24
The New Normal: A Virtual Graduation
As a graduating senior, this email was sent to me by the Provost Office to notify me that this semester's graduation will be virtual. Ever since my freshman year of college, the idea of walking across the stage at my graduation always inspired me to try my best in all of my courses. My hard work and dedication was geared towards this big moment. While it is admirable that St. Mary's is still looking at ways to celebrate their student's accomplishments in the safest way possible, it is still difficult to process that I'll be walking across my living room instead of a graduation stage. -
2020-06
Graduating in a Pandemic: St. Mary's University Hosts Diploma Pick Up
The object is a post from St.Mary's University Linkedin account. The account posted pictures of seniors picking up their diplomas from campus. Amidst the first few months of COVID-19, many changes occurred, especially in academia's traditional spaces. A huge tradition and milestone for students was the spring 2020 graduation. Many Universities, including St.Mary's, held virtual commencement ceremonies that included words from faculty and a program that listed every graduate's name with their major and any awards or affiliations. To provide students their physical degrees, many schools mailed degrees to students, but St.Mary held an event where students and their families could come to campus and pick up their diploma. Hosting an event like this for students and their families was significant because not having a traditional graduation ceremony was a significant loss for those working towards walking the stage. St. Mary's University has a diverse student body of international and first-generation students. All students dream of walking on the stage to get the rewards of their hard work in college. This was not just a loss for students but also family members looking forward to a significant moment. To give students and their families the rewarding celebrity moment, St.Mary's staff and faculty hosted a diploma pickup with safety precautions. -
2020-08-16
Senior Pictures During Covid
I took these photos of some of my family members during our time at a state park where we were taking my sister’s senior pictures. There were scarcely any other people around, and those that were had masks as well. While we were taking pictures at this park, I thought of how strange it is that years into the future, people in our family will look back on my sister’s senior pictures and will be reminded of the pandemic. Her picture will go up in our house next to ones of her from earlier years and will stand out due to that mask. It will be an interesting sight one day to look back on pictures of us with masks on and be reminded of what it was like to live through a global pandemic. -
2020-10-07
Time of Change
First off, I have to say that so far I have been lucky, if one can call it that, to not have lost anyone in any of my circles to this terrible pandemic so I view any of the misfortunes I have had during this time were all only minor inconveniences compared to the way too many others out there. First off, the industry I worked in got pummeled. I had two jobs. I worked for an Audio Visual Company in New Hampshire who did a lot of work for pretty much every presidential candidate producing quite a few of the events such as town halls and rallies. If you saw any news feeds from New Hampshire, there's a good chance the audio you were hearing was from us. My other job was being a tour manager for a French guitar player. I happened to be just starting the tour as Covid was known to be hitting our shores. It was odd time because the tour started in the south and traveling through North Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee got pretty interesting with many peoples' opinion of the pandemic. Anyway, what was supposed to be a four month tour got cut short to about a week and half and during this time I was also informed that there was not anymore work to be had being that all in person campaigning had stopped. So the ended and I did not have a job to return to heading back to my temporary home. I had the "good" fortune of getting to live in two hot spots. My wife was in her last semester at Harvard Divinity School and Boston was hit pretty hard in the beginning. It was an interesting time, but things got a bit more under control as mask and social distancing mandates took effect. As the pandemic slowed down, it was really weird watching my home state of Arizona deciding not to learn lessons from the areas that had been hit early. After my wife's graduation, we came home to a governor who finally was forced to order mandates because covid was getting out of hand. It was quite frustrating to witness this after coming from a hotspot in which many lessons had been learned. Here is where I have to say, nothing was bad as it could have seemed. Being that there was no work to be had, I took advantage of my extra time off. I took the opportunity to practice guitar more seriously than I had for the decades before. I honed my skills in the kitchen. Between getting the bug to restart my education by getting to sit in on classes with Cornel West, E.J. Dionne and quite a few other world class educators as well seeing that this pandemic would be sticking around for a while, I decided that now was as good as a time as any to finish what ended up being only two more semester of classes to get my bachelors in both History and Religious Studies. The program has changed a little being that it was about 15 years ago so there's some new core classes that I need take because not all the classes I had taken before completely translated, but I have appreciated them so far and am very much enjoying being back in school. I feel rather fortunate to feel that I have been fortunate enough to be able to make the best of this time of somewhat chaotic transition. -
2020-05-09
Graduating in the Age of COVID-19
I graduated from Texas A&M with my PhD in Anthropology in May 2020. The graduation was in early May. I had defended my dissertation in late January and was working as a graduate assistant at Texas A&M and as an instructor at Blinn College when the COVID-19 came to Texas in March 2020. My jobs went online for a month, then I was activated with the National Guard on 18April2020. In this photograph from early May, I am attending my remote graduation ceremony from my workspace at the Region 6 COIVD-19 Response headquarters in Houston, TX. -
2020-04
Missing out on important Life Experiences, stuck at home.
When my high school, Hamilton High, postponed the return of school for a few weeks due to the rising COVID-19 cases here in the United States, I wasn't all too bummed about missing an extra few weeks of school. I didn't consider how deadly the virus would be, how many lives it would take, and how many life experiences it would steal from me; all I knew was that I got to be at home doing whatever I wanted for an extra few weeks. I thought I was free, free from my usual life obligations, free from stress, free from all the problems the average teenager goes through. Little did I know that that was the start of mine, and many others, living purgatory. As the days passed by, seeing the cases rising and the deaths rising left me contemplating about how short life really is, what was I doing with my life, was I living my life to the fullest. I realized that any day I could wake up, not knowing it would be the last day of my life. Not only that, but as the return date to school pushed further and further back until finally, they announced that the rest of the school year would be canceled. That means that I would not have a traditional graduation, nor would I be able to attend prom. With COVID cases on the rise seemingly every week, I realized that most college campuses would be either closed or highly limited, and with a pandemic ongoing there wouldn't be much of a chance for social interaction, or going to classes in person, or really just living the college experience. I feel like I was deprived closure from high school, and my first year of college wouldn’t be the fun freshman college experience that most other people have. Fortunately, my friends and family have been safe from the virus, which I am very grateful for. However, I still can't help but feel slightly sorry for myself and other teenagers who are missing out on their freshman experience. -
2020-05-17
Graduation during Covid-19
My sister has been working so hard for the past two years; late nights and difficult early morning labs. She earned the title nurse practitioner. The pandemic hit a few months before her graduation and she would work the front lines while taking the last push towards graduation. As expected her graduation was cancelled and she was mailed her practitioner license. My family and I thought that her hard work deserved a proper celebration so we planned a way for our family to get together but follow all the proper precautions. We saw those drive by celebrations and planned one of our own. My grandmother demanded to be apart of the crowd at home to be closer to her granddaughter and no could tell her any different. This is one of the pictures from the celebration. -
09/19/2020
Eric Chapdelaine Oral History, 2020/09/19
Eric Chapdelaine is interviewed to share his perspective on the COVID-19 pandemic as a graduating senior in a small, private high school and as a current freshman at Northeastern University. -
09/17/2020
Sarah Barber Oral History, 2020/09/17
This submission is an interview about the interviewees experiences during Covid-19 -
09/20/2020
Mary Grace Arents Oral History, 2020/09/20
This is an interview of my friend Grace who lives in Sarasota Florida, and her experience during the Covid-19 Pandemic -
09/20/2020
Joey Attalah Oral History, 2020/09/20
This interview shows the life of a high school graduate in the middle of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Joey graduated from Cambridge Rindge & Latin School in 2020, missing out on his final season of lacrosse brought sadness, although not the same sadness that people took pity on him for. He found joy in being with his family, especially during his virtual graduation. -
09/18/2020
Isabelle Cincera Oral History, 2020/09/18
This interview is about Isabelle Cincera and the affects the pandemic had on her life as a high school senior. The interview discusses the impacts such as online school and her social life. Isabelle demonstrates a great example of how Covid-19 directly affected the life of a student. -
09/19/2020
Emma Matheson Oral History, 2020/09/19
This is an interview with a college freshman and her experience with the pandemic. This mainly covers how the year changed during the 2nd semester of high school, and the resulting summer. -
09/19/2020
John Riley Oral History, 2020/09/19
An account of one person's experience through the COVID 19 pandemic. -
09/20/2020
Maria Simpson Oral History, 2020/09/20
This interview is conducted by a college freshman who interviews another college freshman about her experiences during lockdown. It covers how she dealt with isolation, how her high school experience had changed, and all the emotions and nuances that came with this strange new COVID-19 reality. -
09/19/2020
Cameron Mitchell Oral History, 2020/09/19
The submission is a testament to how much the pandemic has influenced this very important year of both our lives, that a class we take in our first semester revolves so heavily around COVID-19. This is an audio file of my interview with fellow Northeastern University student Cameron Mitchell, for our History 1215 class. -
09/20/2020
Caitlin Daugherty Oral History, 2020/09/20
This is an interview with a college freshman and her experience graduating high school during a global pandemic. She shares her story on what it was like choosing a college, graduating, and being isolated from her friends. -
2020-09-20
Radika Barot Oral History, 2020/09/20
It is the experience the average high school senior had during the Corona Virus Pandemic recorded on voice memo by interviewer. -
09/19/2020
Tehya Oral History, 2020/09/19
Interview goes over Tehya's personal experiences with the pandemic, from graduating her senior year to starting college as a freshman. -
09/18/2020
Alyssa Fell Oral History, 2020/09/18
This audio interview expresses Alyssa Fell's emotions and perspective on the pandemic throughout its course from March to now. The questions reflect her opinions and understanding of responses and changes due to Covid-19 in social, political, and financial regards. -
09/17/2020
[REDACTED] Han Oral History, 2020/09/17
This is an audio interview with a classmate who is based in Korea. She is a freshman who is studying Pharmacy. She expresses her thoughts and experience on the current pandemic, Covid-19. -
09/19/2020
Ben Yrad Oral History, 2020/09/19
This story is important to us because everyone has been affected by the pandemic in their own way. It is critical for us to document these strugles and triumphs so we can look back on how we reacted to this pandemic and how we should react to the next one. -
0919/2020
Spencer Rode Oral History, 2020/09/19
Spencer describes the challenges and emotions involving the shutdown of his last semester of high school, as well as his adjustment to college life. -
09/19/2020
Jacob Giering Oral History, 2020/09/19
I interviewed Jacob about his experience from December 2019-present (September 2020) -
09/19/2020
Jacob Frisch Oral History, 2020/09/19
I interviewed Jacob Frisch about his experiences from Covid 19 and how it impacted his life. -
2020-06-04
Senior Celebration
"I feel so bad about your senior year," and "I'm sorry your senior year was taken from you" were things I heard almost everyday from people. Honestly, I didn't care because it gave me a relaxing rest of the year because I decided to register for very rigorous courses. The school had been frantically trying to find something to do for the seniors to make senior year memorable without feeling disappointed. We didn't have prom or the senior trip where we go to Kings Dominion and then eat dinner on a cruise ship to go back to Baltimore. Like I said, I didn't mind that we didn't have these experiences, but I know there were a lot of disappointed people in my class. I knew it was going to be expensive and out of budget for me to go anyway. In May, I received an email from my school. It talked about how graduation was going to be and that there would be a bus parade for the senior students. I completely ignored it because I personally didn't want to go. I thought it would have been weird and not worth my time. A few days later my mom found out about the parade and was upset that I told her that I didn't feel like attending to it, and ended up making me go. When I got onto the bus I found out that two of my friends were on the bus which made it exciting for me. The bus only allowed 12 kids on it because of social distancing. We arrived at the school and waited for the parade to start. In between each school bus there was a firetruck or a cop car and they all turned on their sirens and honked their horns throughout the whole parade. There were so many people are parents on the streets of the small area my school district is in. I am glad I went to that and I honestly feel like this brought the community together during the uncertain times that the pandemic has brought to us. -
09/19/2020
Cameron Hornbarger Oral History, 2020/09/19
This interview describes Cameron's life during the Covid-19 pandemic as a high school senior, now freshman in college, and citizen of New York and the United States. -
2020-05-15
University of Arizona Department of History Commencement Ceremony Program
Because of the pandemic, in-person graduation ceremonies were cancelled. Instead the ceremonies were held over Zoom. This program outlines the video webinar order of events for the graduation ceremony. -
09/18/2020
Daniela Lin Oral History, 2020/09/18
Daniela gives us an inside look at what it was like to be a high school senior during COVID-19. She also talks about what it was like living in California during the pandemic. Daniela takes us through her experiences with graduation, prom, friends, and just generally what her life has been like living through the COVID-19 Pandemic. -
09/18/2020
Nicki Ribakoff Oral History, 2020/09/18
This is Nicki Ribakoff sharing her story about how Covid-19 impacted her life, specifically her last few months of being a high school senior. She talks about multiple experiences including transitioning to online school, being responsible for getting groceries for her family, and maintaining relationships with her friends. -
09/18/2020
Sophia Press Oral History, 2020/09/18
Audio interview with Sophia Press, a freshman at Northeastern University. She shares her experience with Covid-19. -
09/18/2020
Madison Morris Oral History, 2020/09/18
Maddison Morris, freshman at Northeastern University, accounts her expirience of learning about COVID-19, it's severity, and how it affected her life as well as how it will shape the future. -
2020-06
Senior Year: An Anticlimactic End
This Coronavirus has reared its’ ugly head into so many aspects of my life that I only had one shot at. Senior year of high school is supposed to be one of the best times (as every high school movie says so) but instead, I think us 2020 seniors had the worst time. The end of my high school career consisted of online assignments, virtual celebrations, and people telling me my personal favorite, “you’ll never forget it!” Listen… I don’t think ANY OF US are going to forget that we had a GLOBAL PANDEMIC in 2020. Pandemics don't just casually happen, nor do we just simply forget about it to go on and sing kumbaya. Alternatively, we remember and teach it to future generations. Honestly, that statement was not helpful for 2020 seniors but good try. Anyways, for us seniors we anticipated the excitement of finishing high school while having a new beginning so close. It was Friday, March 13th when my senior class of 2020 experienced the official “2 Week Closing”; however, this was our last day of both high school and normalcy. After a week we were told going back was “to be determined”, but we knew that the likelihood of returning was small. I would look through social media and see posts about the excitement of no school, but by the flip of a switch, it turned into rants about missing school and the ability to leave the house. Education moved online while we watched our senior events get canceled. We pushed through online work in a pass/fail system from March 16th until the last day in June. Throughout that time, we saw all our events slip away. Prom… graduation… senior banquets… gone. When it came to graduation day, a pre-recorded ceremony was broadcasted for us senior families to view. My family sat in our backyard with pizza, me in my cap and gown, and the tv just waiting to see me appear. There was no walking across the stage, sitting with friends, or taking pictures afterwards. This was the ceremony and it was dependent on how we celebrated it. My best friend didn’t watch it because as she said: “I’ve already seen enough graduations with my three sisters. I’m fine skipping mine”. I had a friend who played it in the background while their family did their own thing. Never had graduation celebrations be all over the place. When it ended my family congratulated me and that was it. The anticipation of graduation was gone, for I was officially a college freshman. Overall, my senior year conclusion was a wild ride thanks to Coronavirus. I hope the 2021 seniors don’t go through the same disappointments we did and get to experience the events we missed out on. With it already being a crazy start to the school year I think the seniors deserve to have an enjoyable finish. Hey, if they don’t at least this is a time “they’ll never forget”. -
2020-07-25
My Covid Graduation
Throughout my high school career, the one thing I was most looking forward to was graduating, as any high schooler would look forward to. Not only just getting my diploma and starting my next step in my life, but the actual action of walking across the stage, looking out seeing my family and friends sitting in the crowd cheering me on. The whole concept and excitement of graduation day. Getting all ready in my cap and gown, sitting in the seats next to my classmates who I had grown up with for 13 years and listening to our principle and class president speak. The feeling of finally being free from that era of my life and walking out of the arena with the diploma in my hand. This is what I was looking forward to at the end of my senior year. When my school first switched to online, I still had hope of going back to normal in a couple of weeks. Unfortunately, as we all soon began to realize we were not going back, I realized I would not have this dream of a normal graduation after all. My school still had big plans for our class of 2020 graduation. We had a big senior parade where we drove through our village past all of our teachers and big posters of our pictures lined up on the street. Following that, we had our covid-19 version of graduation. There was a stage set up outside of our school and a section in front designated for close family and friends to watch. That day, I had many emotions. I wanted to be excited for graduation, but the thought of all my class has missed out on was still lingering in the back of my head. I walked across the stage and received my diploma, wearing a mask along with everyone there. I watched all of my friends walk across the stage and receive their diplomas too, but on a video. As heartbreaking as it was, I realized this wasn't something I should be sad about. The pandemic opened up a whole new idea of adapting for everyone. It showed everyone that no matter what could possibly happen, such as global pandemic, there is always a way to make the best out of a bad situation. I was still able to make unforgettable memories and have a memorable graduation. This is important to me because I know this is an event that will always be remembered in my life and it was something that helped change my perspective on everything in life. -
2020-03-06
The Abrupt Ending to My Senior Year
Everyone was always saying how quickly senior year of high school would really go, how you want to cherish every moment you have because it will end before you know it. Well, for me and all the other graduating 2020 seniors across the globe really got to see how quickly it can end. On March 6th, 2020 at Dallastown Area High School in York Pennsylvania, we were informed over the loud speaker that we would be taking an extended absence from in classroom schooling for the time being, and little did we know it would be our last time stepping into the school as students. The whole day was a blur to me as I look back at it. I went into the day with my normal routine, breakfast, drive to school, and hang with my high school buddies in the parking lot until it was time for 1st period to start. There was no thought in our minds of what was going to go down that day. All day the rumors spread from person to person like wildfire that we would be sent home for school for a period, which differentiated depending who you heard the information from. The fear of Covid-19 in my area wasn’t as imposing as some other regions of the United States, so I was perplexed in why we would be getting sent home and frankly, didn’t believe what I was hearing, or I didn’t want to. But then it happened, our principal came over the loudspeaker during the last period of the day, and last of my high school tenure. Feelings were flying in my head of heartbreak and worry. Was I going to get my senior prom that my girlfriend and I have been excited for all year? Was I going to get anymore experience writing with the student newspaper that I had just joined? And many other thoughts swirled around my head like a merry go round. I went home that day with high hopes of coming back after the initial two week period that was set by the school, but before the week was concluded, we received the heartbreaking news that the remainder of the school year would be completed entirely online. I could not believe it; my senior year of high school was over in the blink of an eye. They did not come out and say it, but it slowly started to set in that this meant more than just no school. It meant no prom, no traditional graduation that you worked 13 long years of school for, no more hangouts with your best friends on Friday nights for the time being. In my head, there was people I knew I would never see again, who I did not hang out with outside of school. Some many emotions filled my head as the bad news kept coming and coming, but there was nothing I could do about it. It was a tragic event that we all had to live with, and I guarantee if we all had the opportunity, we would all go back a change the high school ending experience we were all forced to face. -
2020-07-08
Graduation During a Pandemic
Freshman year of college was an absolute blast! Up until Corona came out of nowhere in March and ruined everyone’s year. The Corona Virus has been playing an extremely negative role in my life since March. In addition to the virus, it definitely does not help that politics are being thrown in the mix and half of the country wants to defund our police department. But we won’t talk about that right now. The virus took away a lot of things that I took for granted. For example, Friday beers with the boys, weekends at the bar, quality family time with my momom and poppop, and eating out at a restaurant. But most importantly it almost ruined one of the most important things that happened this summer, my brother’s graduation. One week in July, I found out that my brother was going to be graduating Holy Ghost Prep on a Saturday. And on that particular Saturday, I was scheduled to work, but that wasn’t the issue, the issue was that there were only two people allowed per person to attend the graduation due to the coronavirus restrictions. I was very upset about the new restrictions because I really wanted to see my brother accept his diploma, as he did for me when I was graduating. I decided that I was not going to let the coronavirus control whether or not I would see my brother walk the stage. When that Saturday rolled around I left work at 11 in the morning to make my way over to the ceremony. When I got there I walked over to my family and pulled up an extra chair to sit next to them. When I saw my brother wearing his cap and gown I was overcome with emotion and was so happy to see him. When I heard his name get called I watched as he accepted his hard earned diploma from the president of the school, and take a quick picture at the end of the stage. I will never forget this memory I have with my brother. The coronavirus overall has put limitations on what everyone can do. Whether that be go to a store with only a certain capacity, not finishing a sport you started when you were 5 years old, or seeing loved ones you haven’t connected with in a long time. I think the most important takeaway from this virus is to never again take for granted all of the good things you have in your lifetime, because you never know when the world will turn upside down again. -
2020-06-01
Isolation Graduation
All of my life I have been dreaming of graduation. As a little girl, I would try to imagine what I would wear, how I would walk across the stage (when I was younger, I wanted to catwalk across our auditorium stage like a model – now that would just be embarrassing), what I would say in my valedictorian speech to part with my friends and teachers… and when that moment for those daydreams finally came, it was nothing like I had originally planned. What was once a thrilling time for all of the “lasts” turned into a last Zoom call, the last time logging into my high school Office account, the last email sent by my favorite teacher, and a last assignment turned in virtually. Not a senior prom, not a final picnic, not a fun-filled “skip day” (unless you count the days since March 13th) … I am not upset, I am not bitter, and I certainly do not dwell on what could have been. I understand that this was for our safety, and I would rather sacrifice those events than put myself or the people I love in a place where we could become ill. The day of graduation finally came after all of these years of waiting. What my school planned was very innovative, and I would choose this over a normal graduation any day. We filmed the speeches of the valedictorian and salutatorian, each student walking across the stage to receive their diploma from their family, compiled the clips into a video, and played it at our local drive-in. It was personalized for each student in our class of just sixty students. There were fireworks, gifts, and snacks for everyone in our class. I am not one to reminisce on my high school days. I was the person in my class that just wanted to leave our small town for bigger things. However, I find myself welling up with tears writing this. What my high school did for our graduation was so considerate and accommodating for the world we now live in. There is even a YouTube video of our graduation, online forever, which would have never happened under normal circumstances. I attached a link to it – my speech starts at 31:20 if you are interested. -
2020-09-08
The Puzzle Pieces of America
This essay was produced as a part of the American Studies program at California High School in San Ramon, California. The essay is in response to the prompt "Is America currently living up to its core values?" This essay argues that leadership and hard work are currently being fulfilled today. It also includes references to the following modern events: foreign aid and current high school graduation rates . -
2020-06-15
Graduation
I graduated with my Masters during the pandemic. School was changed as we finished the semester online due to the quaruntine. Then all celebrations were canceled. Things were virtual. I found out I got a job that would bring me from AZ to MA and I would have to move before things got back to normal. I started a job remotely, and took graduation photos alone, without the pomp and circumstance. Then I had a social distanced party outside to celebrate both. Only a 10 people came to be safe, even though more were invited. Many did not feel comfortable to attend. It was what it was but definielty not the big party I had hoped for.