Helen Keller has been quoted as saying, “The highest result of education is tolerance.” It’s been said that this statement relates to how all learning should result in personal change.
In a special section in today’s newspaper, we are recognizing 355 graduates from the Class of 2020, representing 10 school districts: Chatfield High School, Fillmore Central High School, Grand Meadow High School, Houston High School, Kingsland High School, Lanesboro High School, LeRoy-Ostrander High School, Mabel-Canton High School, Rushford-Peterson High School, and Spring Grove High School.
Most of these high school seniors grew up together as neighbor kids. They’ve been playing together since Kindergarten. They’ve spent their lives growing up together, and now they’re finishing their senior year apart.
The senior class trip. Signing yearbooks passed around classrooms. Senior prom. Spring plays. Golf, baseball, softball, track and trap shooting. The last day of school when you walk out of the building as a student one last time. Walking across a stage before your peers, parents, and grandparents to receive your high school diploma. Hugs and handshakes at your graduation open house. Pictures of you standing with your classmates, friends, teachers, parents, siblings and everyone who is proud of you for accomplishing the first big step you’ll take as you become an adult.
For the Class of 2020, it never happened. All of the aforementioned have been stolen memories for the Class of 2020 as a result of the pandemic. They’ll still receive their diplomas, but in a different way.
For the rest of us, myself included, we feel like we took these moments for granted.
And, then you have to consider that these graduates were born in a post-9/11 era that changed the world around us.
Now they are walking out into this great big world in the realm of a pandemic that has fueled a financial crisis.
Some of these seniors will take off a year from attending college, because they want to wait until this coronavirus dark cloud passes. Some graduates signed up to serve their country in the military, but there is uncertainty with what that will look like with social distancing restrictions and basic training. And, these graduates are starting their adulthood with a job market that has spiked to levels not seen since the Great Depression.
OK, enough with the doom and gloom.
What these young adults are facing right now will prepare them for the future in ways they may not realize until much later in life.
And, in spite of these challenging times, they will establish their own personal growth journey. They will climb their mountains. They will aspire to do great things.
They will learn from this life experience as they are living through a historic moment.
I’m guessing that with these unique circumstances, the Class of 2020 will appreciate their time together in the future more than ever before.
These graduates will have well-attended class reunions. And they’ll reflect on the year that was 2020.
To the Class of 2020, we are proud of your accomplishments. But, this is just the beginning.
“There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind.” ~ C.S. Lewis
Leave a Reply