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.
• 
  2020-06-05

  Graduation Parade 2020

  High School graduation 2020 was one for the books for sure. My daughter was a part of the class that had to deal with all of the concerns about what graduation would look like. Our high school decided to have a graduation parade. For my daughter, this was the best possible way to have a graduation. My daughter, dressed in her graduation regalia and her brother, two sisters, and myself crammed into my little car and in a procession, joined a hundred other cars for Lassen High's graduation parade. We decorated the car and honked the horn as we drove by community members lined up on the streets. Teachers were stationed all along the parade route and waved at the students, they had not seen in months. The enthusiasm was contagious. Having a girl that has social anxiety, for her, sitting by mom in the car was the best feeling. As she got out of the car to walk up the stage, she was able to thank the school counselor who invested hours to help her graduate. It was certainly a graduation to remember, and hands down, my favorite graduation to attend.
• 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.
• 
  2020-03-12

  Living post March 12, 2020

  I want to share my feelings and thoughts through text that display what I experienced as a senior in high school during the outbreak of COVID-19.
• 
  2021-09-24

  COVID-19 Archive Project

  Two students interview each other about the pandemic and how it affected their life.
• 
  2021-09-15

  COVID-19 Archive Project Interview

  [Curator's Note] Two persons interview each other about their experiences during the COVIS-19 pandemic. They both lived in different countries when the pandemic started, as one of them lives in Singapore and the other in India.
• 
  2020-05

  Golfing in a Pandemic

  What seemed to be a nice two-week vacation in the middle of March of my senior year of high school was nothing what I thought originally. The last 18 months have been everything but easy for everyone in the United States. The problems that an election year bring on top of a pandemic is very stressful. People had their worlds flipped upside down and backwards, nothing was predictable, and everyone now understood that fact after a few short months into the pandemic. For me I was only a senior in high school so there were not a whole lot of care and stress at the time this pandemic hit. My senior high school self, saw this time as getting out of certain things at school such as finals and getting fitted for a tux for the prom and all the annoying last couple days of school. While we were trying to shift to all online high school at the end of winter there was a saving grace for me. I had always enjoyed the game of golf, watching, and playing. There were a few long weeks until the Pennsylvania weather was going to break and be enjoyable to golf in. The stress of doing school online, being locked in your house, not seeing your friends besides on zoom, and bad weather would get to be too much to handle at times. Once the weather would be anywhere above 40 degrees, I would find myself out on the golf course. I played competitive golf all through middle and high school, so I was always used to playing golf with people. The first couple weeks it was an adjustment when just playing a round by myself. Golf is a very mentally challenging game, but I found it to be an escape during these brutal COVID days. You do a lot of thinking when by yourself, playing golf by myself really slowed me down and made me take a step back and realize how serious this entire situation was. Those “little” events that I missed in high school my class will never get to experience, all the memories that were supposed to be made in the last three months of school were instead replaced with zoom meetings. In the moment they looked “little” but they were major events that I got robbed of. We were known as the “class without a graduation,” looking back on that now leaves a very unsettling feeling in my stomach. The game of golf really helped me to cope and understand many different things in life, like it did with the pandemic and the events that it took away from me and my peers. The game of golf might not be for everyone, but it is a place where I feel at ease and a game that helps me to better myself and really think about how I can be the best person I can be.
• 
  2021-05-20

  Providence College Class of 2021 Graduation

  This photograph was taken by one of the photographers at the commencement ceremony for the Providence College Class of 2021 when I was being announced as receiving the honor of highest in academic rank (valedictorian) for my class. Providence had held its graduations at the Dunkin Donuts Center downtown for the past several decades, but COVID-19 restrictions made that impossible for the Class of 2021. Instead, the College opted to have commencement on campus, holding it at Hendricken Field. Each student was only allowed up to two guests. My parents and brother all graduated from Providence College, so it was difficult knowing that the pandemic prevented me from being part of the same traditions that they got to experience as seniors, such as Senior Ring Weekend. My brother had graduated just two years earlier, so I knew what being a senior was "supposed" to be like, but did not get to experience it. However, having graduation on campus was truly a blessing and a unique experience. I was able to get an extra ticket so that my mom, dad, and brother could all be there to see me receive my degree, and my grandmother was able to watch the livestream from her home. After a challenging year full of disappointment and distance, the Class of 2021 was graced with the chance to celebrate our achievements together.
• 2020-04-01

  Finishing my Undergraduate Degree during the Pandemic

  I was starting the last semester of my undergraduate degree when the pandemic hit the globe. At this time (around March 2020) I was planing to work on my senior honors thesis and happy to start my master's degree in October 2020. But in order to finish my thesis, I had to do some intensive research first: my plan was to visit a big German archive in Berlin and also to do some research in a couple of libraries. But just before I could do so, all German institutions went into lockdown and closed for months due to health precautions. As somebody who studied History and had to visit an archive for my thesis, I felt like I was totally stuck in my academic studies. I felt like it was impossible to finish my studies in the scheduled time, and for months I didn't know how to continue my academic work. Luckily, my university was considerate enough to extend the submission date for my thesis. After a couple of months of not knowing if I could start my master's degree in time (and in general not knowing how my academic and financial future would look like if I didn't finish my undergraduate degree in time) the archives and libraries opened up again, and I could continue my research and finish my thesis.
• 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.
• 
  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.
• 
  2021-05-09

  Boston Lockdown

  The JFK Library and Museum closed during the shutdown and I lost the best job I ever had. I graduated Boston University without a ceremony. I spent my first year in grad school on zoom. I ended up living with my 2 adult siblings and my parents who were either working virtually or not at all. I decided that I would take the time at home to learn things that I had always intended to, mostly because I didn't want to lose my mind. I baked bread, lots of bread: challah, bagels, cinnamon rolls, babka and more. I knit a complicated sweater. I sewed masks for my friends and I played games with my family. I research and organized 7 generations of my family's pictures, documents, videos and newspaper clippings. I started growing vegetables and flowers and I watched hundreds of English Premier Soccer games. The most fun I had was hanging out with my dog. For Halloween I made he and I costumes from the movie Rear Window. I feel like I did my best to survive the Plague, I am proud of all I was able to accomplish and I have more good memories than I thought was possible. I appreciate the normal things I took for granted pre-pandemic and I look forward to the end.
• 
  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.
• 
  2021-02-11

  Life with Covid

  One year ago, today, I had woken up thinking it was going to be another normal day. It was also the first swim meet we had that season, so I was a little nervous as I had to leave school 3 hours early to compete. It was in lunch that day when we had seen that the governor of Colorado had officially cancelled all sports for the next few weeks. My swim meet was instantly cancelled despite being set for that day. In our net class in 5th hour, we talked about the pandemic with Mrs. Woelfel who told us that that we were receiving an early extra week of spring break and she reassured that we would be back in school and sports in a few weeks and that this virus would blow by. She was wrong. Us students were also really upset as our basketball team was in the final four and was stripped of competing normally in the championship with threats of the virus. It was the last good team we would have for a long time. That day we left school feeling sad about no sports, but happy about another week of spring break. We treated those two weeks like summer and did all sorts of things outside. It was then that we had heard that the quarantine would be extended more weeks, and then to our dismay we were told that we had to go back to school online using our computers. We were devastated over losing sports, seniors were crushed as they lost their dance and graduation, and school was long and difficult online. The rest of the year felt like an extended summer break as most students barely had classes or homework. As a whole, classes taught a lot less information as everything became online documents that we could turn in whenever. Once summer came, we were sure that we would be back in school the following year and were surprised to see that we were still going to be online. With students once again worrying about sports and the summers end making everyone sad, the school year started slow and somber as many people were sick of sitting at their computer all day. Slowly, the virus is being contained and the school are slowly reopening, but this year has been a crazy one for sure. Not to mention I did have of it in bed rest with a broken foot. In all, 2020 was not the best.
• 
  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.
• 
  2020-05-31

  High School Graduation-- Covid-19 Edition

  May 31, 2020 Senior year, something that every student looks forward to the second they enter high school. It’s supposed to be a time for celebration, big life steps, and most importantly, spending one last year with the kids you grew up with. Starting senior year in the fall of 2019, everything seemed laid out before me, it was just a matter of finishing college applications and deciding on a college, worrying about who might be my prom date, and whether I would be starting goalie for my varsity lacrosse team. All those worries disappeared when schools got shut down March 13, 2020. At the time only for two weeks, given that Covid-19 was really beginning to hit the United States. My friends and I thought nothing of it and were hopeful for a return to school to finish out senior year. But weeks went on, and one-by-one, everything began to be canceled. First, it was lacrosse. Next, it was the permeant switch to online school. And last, perhaps the worst of all, the cancelation of prom and graduation. When it truly hit that the end of senior year had been taken away from us, I wasn’t quite sure what to do. I sulked around for a long time, and even began to feel like I was losing friends. Flash forward to May 31, 2020, and I’m sitting in the back of my Dad’s truck, which was decorated in my school’s colors of green and black. I sat in my graduation cap and gown all by myself with my parents in the front of the truck. The community had come together to celebrate the Class of 2020 in the only safe way they could think of—a parade. We waited in a parking lot to drive by my high school one last time. Most of my classmates were there, sitting on top of cars, looking through sunroof windows, or sitting in the back of trunks. It was heartbreaking to see all of my friends split apart, all waving from our cars. Friends who I was only really friends with in class smiled and waved, all of us wishing the other well, and dying to give out a hug. As we began to drive through the neighborhoods leading up to the high school, the streets were lined with so many people (all socially distanced and with masks), holding signs and screaming for us. I didn’t cry until I saw my favorite teacher, who saw me and also started to cry, saying she got the letter I had sent her, thanking her for being my support throughout high school. It was such an overwhelming feeling of sadness and joy. When we finally made it to the high school, we all parked and waited to drive by the entrance one more time where they would call our names, as if we were walking across stage. The picture I am submitting is a moment when we had stopped, and I was standing there crying looking out at the high school and all of my classmates. The picture I feel captures how so many were most likely feeling in that moment. Knowing there was so many you didn’t truly get to say good-bye to, but so thankful for the opportunity to see each other from a far. Covid-19 took away so many things for so many people. Graduation was something I had been looking forward to for years. But to see the community come together for us high schoolers in such a confusing time is something I will never forget.
• 
  2020-08-30

  COVID-19 Senior Year

  This story was important for me to share since it is my personal experience dealing with the pandemic. Although I was not sick personally, the virus took away the memories of my senior year.
• 
  2020-03-20

  Hope

  My plague year story of the covid-19 pandemic is honestly quite a normal one. For me covid was not a barrier. It was an obstacle that I learned to get around. I did not let anything hold me back from trying to make the best of my situations. Nothing was ideal in any way possible. I never imagined my final months of highschool being spent at home or starting college online. But I always remembered to take a step back. To distance myself from the chaos and most importantly enjoy my time to the best that I could. Because as humans we have limited control on what happens in our life. It all really depends on how you react to what is happening. You can let the confusion surround you and hold you back. Or you can step out and keep strolling on your path to success, happiness, and love. So like I said my situation in life at the time of the beginning of the outbreak was not ideal. I was in my final few months of highschool and looking forward to graduation, prom, and moving on to college. Unfortunately those milestones did not occur according to plan. My highschool experience was cut short. Way too short. I was forced to adjust to online schooling in very little time. The teachers were still confused on how to teach online and kids were confused on how it worked. My school did not utilize google meets or zoom at the time. So my only connection to my teachers was email. The situation was pretty sad. I missed my friends from school and I missed my teachers that used to fill my day with fun. But I adapted quickly and got my work done. I did not let the communication gap stop me from finishing school on a high note. I utilized the extra free time I was presented with by working. All the time. I work at Target. So I am considered an essential worker for an essential business. So I was desperately needed at the store all the time to help out. I was working forty hour work weeks all while still making time for friends and finishing school work. I worked later shifts, came in on off days and came in earlier to help when they needed. I will never forget the benefits of the work experience I got during the first few months of the pandemic. It taught me a lot about managing my time and money well. I also made great connections with my coworkers and customers who came into the store. These experiences will help me greatly when I move forward in my life in many ways I do not even realize yet. I worked a ton, finished highschool, enjoyed my summer; which I still found a way to make memorable and started college. I may not have gotten the experience I had hoped for when I first came to my campus. But as I’ve said many times, I did not let the obstacles stop me from enjoying my life. I built the greatest support group of friends and I could not have asked for a better outcome. My group and I made the best of college campus life. We always find ways to have fun and still get our work done. So far college has been a fun time and I am glad I came. Again, my story may not have the same hardships as a lot of people may have gone through. My story has been pretty hopeful. So here is to passing the hope on. I hope I continue to grow and thrive and if you may not have had the best experiences yet, here is to hoping you can break free from the chaos and live life to the fullest capabilities right now. Life is not about how hard things are, it is about how you are able to overcome difficulties in your path.
• 
  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.
• 
  2021-01-22

  A Covid Experience

  I learn about myself through the stories of others; this account is both a recounting of my friend Stephanie’s story, a conversation we had after she contracted Covid19, and my own introspection about the different impact that written and spoken stories have.
• 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.
• 
  2021-01-14T18:43:30

  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.
• 
  2021-01-14

  Halfway, hamburgers, and drive-throughs

  I work in the library at a high school. It has been a surreal experience during the pandemic. While on spring break last year we learned that we were not coming back for two weeks, which became the remaining 9 weeks of the year in short order. At the end of the school year, we had to collect, and in some cases return, the items that students had from campus or had left on campus when we departed for spring break expecting to return on March 16, 2020. For a few weeks, we held drop-off zones for band instruments, sports uniforms, textbooks, and even cameras in the school parking lot. We distributed laptops to students who needed them for virtual learning. We asked seniors to drive through the student parking lot to pick up caps, gowns, and other graduation regalia, eventually diplomas, senior shirts, and if a favorite teacher was working that particular shift, to say final goodbyes. Drive-through graduations took place all across the state and the country in May, hoping that the rising senior class would have a different experience in 2021. We somehow are no closer to the end of the pandemic, and there is little chance that my school will return to in-person learning before spring break, and that is how it should be. I cannot say what graduation will or won’t look like at this point. Cases in Arizona are exploding, and in the days surrounding my posting of this story, we lead the entire world in positive cases. In some ways, it doesn’t feel like we have even reached the halfway point. But actually… I have. Because yesterday I was vaccinated with the first dose of the COVD-19 vaccine. My library team and I stalked the website all weekend, waiting for when 1B groups could sign up. I found an open time on Wednesday, January 13, 10 months after March 13, 2020, the day we now say the world fell apart. On top of working, I am a Ph.D. student in history at ASU. So after the first class meeting of my Wednesday class, I drove from Ahwatukee to Chandler-Gilbert Community College and participated in my own parking lot drive-through pandemic procedure. Almost like I was ordering a hamburger in a drive-through. Or maybe I am the hamburger in this analogy? We filed in lines, then split into multiple lanes, guided by a combination of medical staff and National Guard. The first nurse I spoke to, who asked to see my appointment number and my ID, asked me if I had any medication allergies. I responded that I get raised hives from Amoxicillin and Bactrim. She tied a strip of yellow caution tape around my driver's side mirror and told me that I would have to stay 30 minutes after my injection, rather than 15, to make sure I didn’t have an adverse reaction and then proceed to lane 5. No one was paying attention to my car, and I was far from the only one with this yellow strip, but for the few hundred feet that I drove toward where Lane 5 split into an A and B, I felt marked, and then I got to thinking about what other things warranted the Caution tape. I think that it harkened back to my biggest fear about COVID, that if I became infected, I would be seen as irresponsible, a pariah. It’s a privileged outlook, to be sure, but I had done my best to be safe for almost a year, hence why I was in line for the vaccine on the third day that it was open to 1B individuals. The next medical staff told me to lower all four windows in my car. You might think for airflow, but a coworker told me it was so that the EMTs could get in your vehicle if you were having a nasty reaction. The doctor for the 5A line asked me again about my allergies and decided to remove the tape that he did not see any fear for an adverse reaction. I pulled up under the tents, put my car in park, and the nurse opened the door. She confirmed with me that it was my first dose and rubbed a single-use alcohol prep pad on my arm. She asked if I was ready while she did that thing that doctors do, the thing where they squeeze a bit of your arm where they are going to stick you. “Yep,” I said back, chipper, unafraid of needles, vaccines, shots, or anything like that. “Okay,” she said, less than a second later, “you’re all done.” I didn’t even feel the needle before she was putting a bandage on my arm and putting my t-shirt sleeve back down. We exchanged “thank you” and “have a great day,” and I pulled up to the end of the line where an EMT gave me a packet of information on the vaccine and a card that had no patient name yet but was stamped with today’s date, indicating that I had completed my first of two vaccines. That I was halfway done. I really have to wait 30 days after the second dose to truly be “done,” but “third-way” done doesn’t quite have the same ring to it. I pulled off to the side on the meandering path back through the campus parking lot and took a photo with my half-completed card. Because by social media rules, if you don’t take a selfie with your card, were you really vaccinated? Thinking back to my coworkers’ puppies that had gotten their vaccinations to make them safe around other dogs over the summer, I sent the photo to our group chat, “halfway to street legal!”
• 2020-12-15

  Life through Photographs during COVID19

  Coronavirus hit me as a senior in high school. It began as an exciting two-week spring break and then continued to alter my life and everyone else's with no end in sight. I acknowledge that I was lucky in the ways coronavirus affected me as I did not lose my job, any loved ones, and was lucky enough to stay healthy along with my family. However, coronavirus and its related restrictions did hit me in ways I never would have imagined. It started with the loss of graduation, the loss of closure at the end of my senior year, worsening mental health, and questioning everything that was to come of my future. I had a plan: a plan to graduate along with 400 other students, a plan to travel in the summer, and a plan to go to college. These plans that seemed so certain were all uprooted instantly. Instead, graduating high school seemed like a formality, not a celebration, college at UW seemed so uncertain and financially difficult that I questioned attending, and traveling became a walk to the park. In the first few months I found myself sinking into a depression, my body and brain shutting down. I felt lost. As time passed, I began to find purpose and to find enjoyment in little things I never would have months prior. In the first few months, I found myself trapped in my house with little interaction, falling into a rut of depression and anxiety. I slowly began to find enjoyment in small things that got me out of my head. About a month into isolation I found myself scrolling through years of photos and videos reminiscing on my pre-covid, pre-mask, and pre-isolation self. I instantly began to print these old pictures creating photo journals and I made several slideshows of photos I had taken or found throughout my life. I created a video of my senior year of highschool full of photos and videos portraying the amazing times I was able to be a part of. I watched myself grow in these photos along with some of my closest friends and family. At first, these old photos made me sad, made me feel so alone, and then the photos made me appreciate everything I have been a part of. Looking back on the past, I realized how much I took these moments for granted. The small things such as going to restaurants, attending school in person, playing sports, etc. While looking back at the many adventures, I appreciated every photograph, every laugh, every cry. I realized how important the small things were. This is when I discovered my love for photographs, collaging, and slideshows. Creating these photo journals and slideshows gave me a reason to get out of bed and made me feel like I had a life in a time like it felt like I was completely lost. I had a five-month summer ahead of me, the longest break from school I have had since I was five years old. These photographs allowed me to spend time and energy on something that distracted me from reality. Slowly, the reminiscing and creation of these collages of my pre-covid life led to a sense of longing, a longing to be rid of this pandemic. I then found a job and instead of dreading a shift, I looked forward to it as it gave me a sense of purpose. I would document my coworkers who soon became some of my closest friends. I took photos of us at the break, spilling mop water on the floor, and going on drives to buy us all coffee. I then used the photographs to document the time I was in instead of the time I had once lived in. As restrictions started to lift I began to see my friends again but not in the same way. We would sit in our cars in parking lots, at parks six feet apart, or wearing masks on each other's front yards. I photographed all of this. I made videos of us blasting music as we sat in our cars not being able to hug or embrace each other. I wonder how these photos will age. These moments I have captured are of unimaginable times. I will view these in years looking back as the best and worst times of my life. Slowly I was able to create my social bubble of work, family, and a few friends. ll of these people became my support system, my family. Through these last few months, I and those around me have gone through more than I have experienced with anyone else. This includes loss of employment, loss of income, loss of family members, and loss of mental health. I started to create collages and photo journals to give to those around me. When sharing these pictures with those around me it brought smiles to our faces as we reminisced about our memories together or laughed at the altered world we live in today. I found that when I got to my darkest points I found solace in my photos and the sharing of these photos. Later in quarantine during July a few of my friends and I decided we were going to explore Oregon in every aspect we could. We hiked beautiful mountains, swam in the lakes, went to the beach, and watercolored in parks. I documented all of this along the way. Now instead of looking back on what I missed pre-COVID, I look at what I found during COVID. I found my family, my escape, myself. I found that I have captured more memories during these last nine months than at any other time. I have done more for myself and with those around me than I ever have. These photos and videos have been my way of illustrating the positive effects of this pandemic in my life. A couple of years ago I may have looked at these photos and videos and thought why masks? Why social distance? Why so much time spent with my family inside? Now, they bring a smile to my face. Yes, COVID19 has taken many things but it has given me many things as well. And one day I hope to show what it gave me through my photos.
• 
  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
• 
  2020-07-29

  Social Graduation: Western's virtual graduation box

  Pictured is one of Western University's virtual graduation boxes given to every graduate during the summer of 2020.
• 
  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.
• 2020-11-16

  IAIA 2020 Graduating Senior Virtual Exhibition

  Every semester the IAIA campus hosts an exhibition for the graduating seniors. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic the campus was closed and everything moved to an online format. Determined to show the work, the graduating seniors worked with their instuctors, advisors and the gallery director to organize and execute a virtual exhibition. The show was designed and created with the Ortelia software. Although they did not get to exhibit the work in person this interactive exhibition did return some normalcy to the gallery exhibition space.
• 
  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.
• 
  2020-11-09

  COVID-19: Student Edition

  This is a summary of my personal experience with the COVID-19 pandemic as a young adult making the transition from high school to college! I am currently a freshman studying at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts.