
- KINDERGARTEN GRADUATION IDEAS DURING PANDEMIC CRACKED
- KINDERGARTEN GRADUATION IDEAS DURING PANDEMIC MOVIE
There were times when I think I forgot about the ceremony entirely. Shreena Bhakta, 18, High School SeniorĪs a freshman, graduation seems too far away to even care about. And just like everything else that has changed with the pandemic, this ceremony will be different, too. I had always envisioned graduation when I pictured high school. I wanted to enter into adulthood by tossing my tassels onto the other side of my cap before throwing my hat into the air. Some piece of me wanted to walk up the stairs of the stage, shake hands with my principal, and exit on the other side as a new person. But I do find myself caring about the idea of graduation as a representation of a symbolic and literal change. In fact, I’m almost glad that I have an excuse not to go to prom.

I think it was better that way.įrankly, I don’t care much for the traditional high school customs. She purposefully ignored the Zoom meeting. Instead, my parents and I watched her brief online graduation while she drove across the country to get home. I only wish that I could’ve seen her graduate from college last year - maybe I’d get to experience the same sense of bittersweet joy as I watched her cross an even more significant threshold to adulthood. Her graduation marked both her entrance into the exciting world of college and adulthood and the dissolution of our family unit. With my second-oldest sister graduating, I would be left alone in my house with just my parents for five (excruciatingly long) years. And while I could expect nearly everything that would take place, I didn’t expect to feel so sad. I’m pretty certain that her class sang a song and maybe even coordinated a dance, but the only clear thing I remember was how my mom gave me my first piece of gum to keep my four-year-old self quiet as I shifted and squirmed in my uncomfortable dress.īy the time I was 14, and my other sister was graduating from high school, I had watched enough graduations to know that the ceremony would be incredibly predictable: the school CEO would read out the same speech, the same names would be called, and my mom would always grow teary-eyed by the end.īy far the most interesting part was getting to watch her walk across the stage as her name was called out, looking grown-up in her white graduation gown. The first one I went to was my oldest sister’s fifth grade graduation. With two older sisters, I’ve had a lot of experiences with graduations.
KINDERGARTEN GRADUATION IDEAS DURING PANDEMIC CRACKED
Through tears, Jade Bentley, 17, said, “I make fun of people who peak in high school or whatever.but I do think there are important things that happen,” she paused and her voice cracked with emotion when she began describing the logistics of a drive-through graduation. The teens’ grief escalated in early March when they thought graduation would be completely cancelled. Our recording sessions have been a social and creative lifeline for me and the teens throughout the pandemic. I run a youth dialogue and podcasting program with teenagers called This Teenage Life. But this year, due to the ongoing pandemic, many graduation ceremonies will still look quite different than they did in the “before times.”

Young people can finally throw up their hats, hug their friends, and feel both nostalgic about, and unfettered from, the restrictions of social cliques and high school identity politics.

KINDERGARTEN GRADUATION IDEAS DURING PANDEMIC MOVIE
Scenes from movie staples like Grease, Mean Girls, or High School Musical often depict high school graduation as a pivotal moment.
