The COVID Graduates
As I sit on the outskirt of the crowd, I take a moment to take in the scene. The people who have been prominent features in my life for the past 13 years file into the stadium in anticipation of the day’s events. These individuals are the threads woven tightly to create the warm and fuzzy blanket during all those childhood milestones we witnessed through the years. Together, we raised, loved, cheered for, and praised one another’s children as they grew from Preschool toddlers to elementary students, through middle school drama and an unorthodox high school experience. We gather today as our children prepare to take the field for their high school graduation – the last hurrah as a parental community.
Not long ago, the recognition of how far our high school seniors had come struck me as profoundly evident. It was the gathering for photos before their high school semi formal in early November 2021. Dresses glimmered in the sunlight and suits made our boys look like men as we lined the kids up to pose along the shoreline. It was the first sign of high school normalcy after the pandemic. It felt so natural to be there with my fellow parents. Snapping pictures and observing our children gathering in groups is what we are supposed to do during their high school years. However, these familiar faces had been noticeably absent from my life for the past 2+ very long years while we followed the roller coaster of safety guidelines during the COVID-19 pandemic. As parent after parent arrived at the designated photo location, it became very clear that this simple gathering was not only a photo opportunity to document a milestone for our gorgeous children but a long overdue reunion between parents as well.
Normal. It felt so very normal to watch this group of teens laugh and embrace. Call to one another and pose as their parents capture the memory. These kids. Us parents. We had persevered through one of the most challenging 2 years to be in high school. We did it!
The semi formal was the first dance the class of 2022 had been to since their 8th grade luau. None of them had the opportunity to attend an upper classman’s formal to know what to expect (unless they went as a freshman). There wasn’t an example of how the previous class held and attended events for them to follow. These students never had a sophomore or junior event because they were all cancelled. Proms, banquets, dances, and every other traditional high school gathering had simply been obliterated from the school calendar for 2 years. In fact, going into this year, we were only cautiously optimistic this group would have a normal senior year.
Prior to the pandemic, high schools across the country followed a predictable timeline of events all students anticipate as defining moments in their high school career. Disruption to the expectations were unthought of, especially in their senior year. A semi formal late fall. A senior banquet early spring. A prom late spring. A graduation in June. And a sprinkle of performances and big games in between. The difference between the last 3 graduating classes and the high school classes of the past; the recent classes have had to learn (the hard way) to expect the unexpected. The senior class of 2022 had very little expectations of what their senior year would look like – only hopes.
This is the COVID class of 2022. Just like the COVID classes of 2020 and 2021 – these kids are better than all the classes that came before them.
The Class of 2020 – These poor kids had the rug ripped from under them. No-one saw it coming and no one expected it to wipe out the entire 2nd half of their senior year. Prior to 2020, the kids of this generation were the teens of instant gratification. They were known to be spoiled by having everything at their fingertips. Disappointment was a foreign concept to most of the class. However, when the pandemic hit in early 2020 and fear ripped through the world, it took with it all the expectations the class of 2020 had for their senior year.
The Class of 2021 – Who thought they would be affected? I remember watching in despair as the 2020 class make the best of their situation through social distanced events. I remember feeling so grateful my friends’ children in the class of 2021 would not have to deal with all the kids of 2020 had – I never imagined how untrue that belief would be. The restrictions stretched from September – June for the 2021 kids. The administration and students were creative in their attempt to give the seniors something resembling the senior year they had expected. The events that were typically held indoors, were held outside, online college tours were improved on, and school dances were restricted to their class cohort. The students adapted and got through the year. They were taught by the previous year that nothing was guaranteed and learned to make the best of the uncontrollable situation they were in. The seniors took what they were given and made the best of it. They survived and they moved on bringing with them memories of high school that will forever be incomparable to other high school experiences. I am sure they mourned the lack of expected senior milestones, but they graduated and went off to work and college with the rest of their class after the year that never was.
That brings me to this year’s senior class of 2022. My son’s year. This class left middle school with the less than honorable title of “the worst class to ever go through O’Maley Middle School”. They were belligerent, aggressive little brats with more than a few who left their mark on the middle school. I am not sure if it was the passing of time or the effects of 2 years of high school during a pandemic but when I look over the fresh young faces of the class of 2022, the stigma that they once carried with them appears to have evaporated leaving us with a respectable group of young adults ready to take on the world.
The lessons learned by the last 3 graduating classes were not easy, but they are ones that will serve them well as they progress toward adulthood. Disappointment is a hard pill to swallow but one we must inevitably endure at some point in our lives. As difficult as it was, the class of 2020, 2021, and 2022 have all had this lesson forced upon them at a very young age. It will serve them well in the future, if they take advantage of how much stronger they are due to the challenges they have already faced.
If I had one wish for these COVID classes, it is for them to take the resiliency they have exemplified in the past few years and apply it to their post graduate life. If they succeed in doing this, I believe this world would be a better place for all of us.
Tough lessons learned in 2020, 2021 and 2022:
- Do NOT try to control everything. Not everything is within your control. Sometimes you must accept that and carry on.
- Think outside the box. Be creative when things do not go as expected and make the best out of every situation.
- Appreciate the little things in life. Family, a hot cup of coffee, or the sunrise on a new day. Recognize and show gratitude for what you have taken for granted in the past. There is always something to be thankful for.
- Respect each other’s differences. It is the differences in each other that make us unique. Recognize those differences and acknowledge not everyone will believe in what you do.
- Take the adversities you face in life and use it as an opportunity to grow stronger as a person.
- Allow yourself to be disappointed with a loss or rejection and then keep an open mind and heart for the next opportunity presented.
As we gather for the final event for the class of 2022, I am hopeful for everything this group of individuals have to offer our community and the world around us. This is no longer a group of bratty, self-indulgent teens who only know a life of instant gratification. This is a group of young adults who experienced high school during a global pandemic. They know loss, faced adversities, overcame disappointment, and learned to appreciate the simple things of life – such as the return of senior events the 2 classes before them were not able to attend. They are resilient from experiences beyond their control, and they are going to make this world a better place.
Congratulations to the class of 2022 – we are counting on you.
** Photo Credit – Dawn Enos **