I think one of the hardest groups hit during the coronavirus pandemic is the graduating class of 2020.
Instead of spending their last few months of high school, university, or college alongside their classmates counting down the days until they’re done, they’ve been forced to end their schooling in the confines of their own home.
Don’t get me wrong, the decision to close schools across the country was a smart move and one that needed to be done to stop the spread of the virus. It still breaks my heart for those whose senior year was completely derailed.
For any student, graduation was something you strived for and looked forward to. It was that milestone at the end of your journey where you could look back on what you accomplished and say ‘look what I did with myself.’
When you crossed that stage, you might have been a completely different person than you were when you first walked through the doors of your school.
You had your heart broken, failed a test, got in trouble, made some lifelong friends, lost some people you thought you couldn’t live without, and learned lessons inside and outside of the classroom that would stay with you forever.
It’s why I was glad when I heard local school divisions weren’t flat out cancelling graduations and convocations, but postponing them until the fall. The hope is that the restrictions on large group gatherings will be relaxed by then, and can allow proper celebrations to take place.
But, I still feel like more should be done; some way to mark the occasion for graduating seniors to celebrate their milestone, and to be able to say goodbye to their classmates before heading off to post-secondary or a career.
One such way I've seen communities commemorating their graduates, is by posting graduation portraits along their main street in a nod to those who can’t walk across the stage or throw their caps in celebration. Groups are coming together to do what they can in these unprecedented times to show students their hard work meant something and that they’re important.
Perhaps Bonnyville could do the same, to come together and do something to honour the graduating class of 2020, even if you don’t know someone who would be finishing high school this year. Think of how you felt when you put on a cap and gown and celebrated alongside your friends, and how much it must suck to be graduating during a pandemic.
