When I tell someone I’m part of the class of 2020, it’ll be met with looks of pity. They’ll ask me what it was like to graduate in 2020.
They’ll probably expect something like “Oh, it was awful. We didn’t get our senior formals, capstone fairs, graduation…”
“We got fired from jobs we hadn’t even started…”
“We didn’t get to say goodbye”
And that is valid. It is all true, and it is not to be minimized.
But that’s not what I’ll remember.
I’m going to tell them how mere days after Washington announced lockdown, UW alumni retooled a wearable device to prevent face touching and shipped it country-wide.
I’ll mention how “Zoom Memes for Self-Quaranteens” was created and gave a safe space for 400,000 students to band together. I’ll remember how we coped and overcame: together.
I’ll recount the petitions to governments to help those underserved; whether it was victims of domestic violence or small businesses going under, we came together for a cause.
I’ll share what it was like to participate in the “Adopt a Senior” forums, made by loved ones showing they cared about their senior and telling them that they mattered.
I’ll express how we made moments special; from video-call birthdays to drive-by celebrations, to mailing letters and care packages, we found a new way to show love.
When people lost their jobs, I’ll describe how our students created a list of thousands of companies still hiring. I’ll add in how my faculty met with each individual senior to check on our post-graduation plans, and provide referrals for each of us.
And most recently, I will never forget how our community - every single state and 18 countries - participated to instigate change against racial injustice in the police force and justice systems.
If everyone does their small part, we can make something big happen. From artists recreating graduation photos to data scientists predicting outcomes of COVID-19 to final-year medical students entering the work force early, our community came together unlike ever before. We did it to support everyone: the elderly, the poor, the janitors, the grocery store workers, the people who lost their jobs, the people who couldn’t pay rent. We held out a helping hand - from 6 feet apart - to anyone in need.
We are on the cusp of entering a world that needs us more than ever before. Things will never be normal again - and they shouldn’t be. We get to redefine the new normal. We have the opportunity to fix inherently broken aspects of our system. If I’ve learned anything from the University of Washington, it’s that what you care about can change the world. We may not have our Capstone Fairs to show our friends and family what we can do, but we have a chance to show the world.
So if you ask me what it’s like graduating in 2020… I’ll tell you it’s been an absolute privilege.