Being apart, but coming together by Mollie Harris

BEING APART, BUT COMING TOGETHER SECOND PLACE

The year 2020 has certainly not gone as I imagined.

In a matter of a few weeks, I – and my fellow seniors of the Class of 2020 – lost several of the important rites of passage that typically marks the countdown to graduation. No classes. No prom. No school trips. No spring sports. We may not even have a graduation ceremony. We walked the halls for the last time as seniors and didn’t even know it. We have all been separated — stuck in our homes and not able to see the people we have been with nearly every day since kindergarten. We are no longer one collective unit. We are apart.

Yet, in our isolation, I have found that we are not alone. The Class of 2020 grew up on social media, and even though our parents may complain about it, the connections we have with others via social media has been a tremendous help during a time of social distancing.

We can still see our friends, family and even our teachers on Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, Zoom, FaceTime, TikTok and Skype. I may not be able to be with my friends, but I can still be part of their lives, and they can be part of mine. We may be texting each other from our separate bedrooms, but we are still together. BY MARGARET “MOLLIE” HARRIS

EDWARDSBURG CLASS OF 2020

Education goes beyond the classroom. Although the members of the Class of 2020 missed out on the final few months of their high school careers, learning didn’t stop. I have watched videos of my classmates building things, working on cars, welding, redecorating, sewing, crocheting, baking, dancing and painting. I am also using this time to learn about things I didn’t study in school, like budgeting, investing in the stock market and how to make informed purchasing decisions.

The Class of 2020 may not be in the classrooms of the high school, but we are learning real-world lessons that will help us throughout our lives.

It is heartwarming to see how the community and the country has embraced the Class of 2020. People have started local and national adopt-a-senior programs. Through these amazing programs, I have received cards, letters and small gifts from strangers across the country who have seniors that are also mourning the loss of their final year of high school. These are people I will never meet, yet they took time out of their day to send me words of encouragement.

Despite our geographic differences, we share a commonality. In my own community, I have received well wishes, congratulations and gifts from people I considered only casual acquaintances. I don’t know these people — or I don’t know them well — but they want me and my fellow classmates of the Class of 2020 to know that they sympathize with our situation and that they support our future endeavors.

What will the Class of 2020 be remembered for in 20 years? The obvious answer is that we will be remembered as the “Class of Quarantine” or the class that can say “Coronavirus ate my senior year.” But, if I dig a little deeper, I would have to say that we are the class that learned that we can be together even when we are apart, the class that learned that education continues outside the classroom and the class that witnessed the power of community.

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