Corona Graduation

It’s the year 2020. The world has been flipped upside down. This is the year I’m supposed to graduate! A once in a lifetime opportunity came to a halt; actually, my life came to a halt. It was March 2020 and everything changed. This was the very beginning of our social shutdown. Everything closed. Restaurants, stores, banks, and of course... schools.

On March 15th, 2020 Pennsylvania schools officially shut down. No one knew how long this would go on. After two weeks, we began classes online. Of course, this was a huge adjustment but we came together and figured it out.

We figured this pandemic would run its course and be done soon. Obviously, that didn’t happen. Weeks went by and at this point, we all kind of knew the inevitable canceled graduation. We still held out a sliver of hope. For weeks it was in question. Then finally, April 15th, 2020, it was final. Our in-person graduation ceremony was officially canceled. My once in a lifetime, high school graduation is never going to happen. My school was welcoming to suggestions but with no Covid end in sight, the only option was an online ceremony. How disappointing.

My hopes and expectations were so let down. I bought an outfit and I had a whole plan with my family. Originally, my graduation ceremony was going to be held three hours away from me. We made a plan to stay at a hotel, go to my graduation dinner, attend the ceremony, and spend the weekend sightseeing. I wanted to go to the Philidelphia Museum of Art. We had even bought the tickets online.

Of course, that was all over. Now our names would be called and our photos would appear in a blackboard collaborate meeting. Graduation photos this year would just be a screenshot of your presentation slide. No family, no photos, no class dinner, nothing. Not even a day to say goodbye to your high school friends. We would all be going our separate ways for college and this was the day for our last hoorah. One other thing is I would have loved to say goodbye to my teachers. This is the first and only school where the teachers actually cared. They were amazing people and I am eternally grateful for them. I guess I will just have to send them a virtual hug.

I may just sound like a giant complainer to you. I know why social distancing is important and I totally understand the circumstances. I would never want to risk my family or anyone else’s family just for a ceremony but it’s still disappointing. I’m grateful for my health, my family’s health, and the opportunity to even have some sort of graduation. I just wish we would be able to have it postponed for even next year.

Let’s leave off on a positive note though. On the bright side, I don’t have to do my hair and makeup, I don’t have to stress about being late, and I don’t have to worry about embarrassingly tripping on stage (I was actually very nervous about that). Something I found funny was that my school is covering the cost of our caps and gowns as gifts to us. That’s nice and I appreciate it but I just found it a little humorous since there’s nowhere for us to wear them. Maybe when all is done, I get some photos taken with them. Also, I am really hoping we get some cool senior shirts at least.

At the end of the day, at least I have a story for the future :)