A Standing Ovation for the Pandemic Class of 2020
By Faiza Zia Khan
Newport Beach, CA
Hope, anticipation, joy, fear, disappointment, hurt, anger, uncertainty, and anxiety. These heightened emotions experienced by anyone in the past few months are not uncommon considering we are in the middle of a pandemic. Given the present predilections we are not going anywhere in the preceding few months either or maybe years - no one really knows. The feeling of being stuck on a hamster wheel going around in circles and not getting anywhere shows tenacity not failure at this moment in time. It is completely okay to NOT be okay. Californians were just coming out of the winter season when COVID-19 hit us and it seems we will head back right into winter with social distancing guidelines still in place.
The months of May and June cyclically bring excitement for graduating classes in high schools, colleges, and universities. Every year around this time stores, restaurants, venues, and shopping are geared towards graduation themes. This year would have been no different for graduating classes if a pandemic had not hit us - and it hit us hard globally! As a parent of a high school senior closing out the final year of her schooling journey typically would have been a celebration of 13 years of hard work where struggles pertaining to the first day of the school year, chasing school supplies, attending teacher conferences, packing lunches, focusing on homework, navigating friend groups, going to sporting events, fitting in, submitting university applications faded in the background triumphed by the joys of graduation. The senior most group in high school became freshmen again as they step into colleges and universities. The vulnerability of the first at school changes into the anxiety of the first day into adulthood as they walk through the mighty gates of the sprawling grounds of college/university campuses. The struggles of high school pale in comparison as they look at life from the lens of adulthood. The festivities and fun were just about to begin as senior projects were submitted and SAT/ACTs taken before the end of the school year. This is when the graduation parties were planned, reservations for venues made, invitation designs chosen, guest lists prepared, dresses picked, and travel plans finalized as graduation rewards. These were all hastily postponed and stashed away never to be discussed again as they are not to happen. Not in the near foreseeable future to say the least.
Graduating students from high schools, colleges, and universities around the world are commencing at a time of great uncertainty. This was to be the most epic moment of their life. When the going got tough or they coped with a rough day at school they visualized the day when they will get to walk across the stage to receive their diplomas/degrees. It is not a day they imagined: the standing ovation, the accolades, the cheering, tossing of graduation caps, the flip of the tassel as their name is announced, the photos/videos and processions will never happen.
While the class of 2020 graduates are grappling with the loss of a major rite of passage in their life, I have chosen to provide some words of advice not just to my own high school senior and her friends, but to whomever this applies to in general. Everything that happened as an aftermath of the pandemic at this point is NOT okay. The disappointment is justified and this is not how you envisioned your graduating year. The fact that you never got to do any of the normal commemorations is bittersweet. You could not say proper goodbyes to the high school friends leaving for different parts of the country for colleges or jobs, have a graduation ceremony, got the yearbook signed by teachers/peers/friends, taken last minute photos, and experienced the euphoria of the last few weeks of senior year moments as your brothers/sisters/friends did. It does not mean your graduation is any less significant than your predecessors.
As I write these words, I will look back in time and be able to say to you all that sometimes in life it is not your fault that events play out the way they did, and you did not get to choose the role you played. What is important is how well you play the role when life chooses your path for you and throws a curveball when you least expect it. You will be okay when we emerge from this. You will be stronger and face veracity with bravado. If you can survive a pandemic, you can certainly survive life.
Looking at the bright side of the picture, a graduating class has never been celebrated with so much fervor. These celebrations are going down in history as the most memorable events that generations to come will remember for decades. Celebrities all around the world rallied to honor the Class of 2020. Former President Barack Obama honored the graduates in two virtual commencement speeches one during the afternoon and the other in the evening. "You won't get it right every time," Obama said. "You'll make mistakes like we all do. But if you listen to the truth that's inside yourself even when it's hard, even when it's inconvenient, people will notice. They'll gravitate toward you. And you'll be part of the solution instead of part of the problem. Along with the usual challenges of growing up, all of you have had to deal with added pressure because of social media, reports of school shootings and the specter of climate change," said Obama.
Majority of the high school graduates in the class of 2020 are part of Generation Z born in 2002. These young adults were born into a world where social media ruled their lives. Appropriately, Facebook and Instagram hosted a virtual graduation by enlisting a host of celebrities from LeBron James to Miley Cyrus to offer words of encouragement. Talk show host Oprah Winfrey opened her commencement speech thus: "I know you may not feel like it, but you are, indeed, the chosen class for such a time as this, the class of 2020. You're also a united class, the pandemic class, that has the entire world striving to graduate with you. I wish I could tell you I know the path forward; I don't," Winfrey stated. "There is so much uncertainty. In truth, there always has been. What I do know is that the same guts and imagination that got you to this moment — all those things are the very things that are going to sustain you through whatever is coming." The best piece of advice from Winfrey is that they will learn to be at peace with the discomfort of stepping into the unknown. Congratulations Graduating “Class of 2020.” Keep striving for excellence!
(Faiza Zia Khan holds a Master’s in Journalism degree from the University of British Columbia, Canada. She has collaborated with news media outlets including Global National and actively volunteers for several community investment projects for the Red Cross, United Way and the Breast Cancer Foundation)
