Items

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  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.
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  2020-05-10

  Graduation 50 Years Apart

  In this photo, I am holding a picture of my deceased grandfather while I'm dressed for my undergrad graduation that did not happen. I wanted to take a picture in my regalia on the campus that we both studied at, but due to the pandemic, I was forced to finish my undergrad degree at home. This photo in my regalia reminded me that I could not celebrate this accomplishment at the same place that my grandfather did only 50 years before.
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  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.
• 
  2020-08-04

  My Gratefulness Notebook

  I chose this object because it really represents the way I have been able to use this pandemic to change my mindset. I received the journal at a time when everything in my life was changing really fast, and not in a positive way. There was so much loss and pain. I started filling one page of this journal every evening with things I am thankful for, and though it was really difficult at first, I found that it grew easier with time, and now I am finding things to be thankful for in every situation. This pandemic reminds us that we have to be thankful for what we have in every moment, because we never know when that could be taken away, but also that when it seems like everything has been taken away, there is still many things in our lives left to hold onto.
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  2020-04-17

  Locally Displayed Photos of High School Graduates

  These images of graduates from Hobbton Highschool were hung on display around town for everyone to celebrate their accomplishment, together.