High school graduation season is wrapping up in North Texas and all the celebrations that come with it. The seniors getting diplomas in 2024 have extra reason to be proud.
They were freshman in the fall of 2020 and trying to navigate high school under the cloud of COVID-19. The coronavirus pandemic forced school districts across North Texas to be flexible with their calendars that year. A hybrid schedule kept some students learning at home online and some on campus for in-person learning. Then came the challenge of catching up with students who fell behind.
Resilience and determination are among the lessons the Class of 2024 take into their next journeys.
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It's an ending. It's a beginning. There are cheers and maybe fears about moving on.
College graduates in 2024 are experiencing what they missed out on four years ago when they left high school. COVID-19 disrupted graduation and so much more for the class of 2020. Schools opted to host outdoor ceremonies or drive-thru events.
"We at least decorated the car to make it feel some sort of special," said Jake Simmerman. He and his 2020 classmates of McKinney Boyd High School had a drive-thru graduation. There were masks and distancing but Simmerman kept his sense of humor. His family celebrated with a cake shaped like a roll of toilet paper - a symbol of the coronavirus crisis.
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Yet, Simmerman also knew he lost out on something special.
"It was definitely a sense of, like, loneliness and not being able to see your classmates for one last time, especially since our senior year was cut short," he said.
"We had a senior luncheon in downtown. So, we all kind of dressed up," Daniella Galaso said as she recalled a celebration luncheon in March of 2020. "And then we went off for spring break and then we didn't come back."
Galaso and the all-girls class of 2020 at the Young Women's Leadership Academy in Fort Worth spread out on a football field for graduation and tried their best to capture a rite of passage.
"It was just kind of a scary time and then all of a sudden we're supposed to now be shipped out to college and be adults," she said.
Galaso left home and went 1,800 miles away to Babson College, a business school in Wellesley, Massachusetts. Masks, distancing, and virtual classes were all part of the first-gen's first year.
"I just remember the start of freshman year just being so scared to unmute myself and speak in the class," she said. "You can literally see all these faces on the screen. So you really, I think you almost feel like you're on the spot even more than in a classroom."
Simmerman left for Lubbock and lived on campus at Texas Tech in a dorm with roommates but COVID-19 precautions dimmed the shine of being at college.
"I just stayed in my dorm 24-7, which, again, it felt honestly kind of sad. It was just, you know, only being able to be online, do all my tests online just in that dorm room," he said.
Now four years later as they graduate from college, Simmerman and Galaso take pride in getting through it all.
"Being able to like do stuff myself," Simmerman said. "I just learned a lot more about like my strength as a human and being able to live life on a daily basis and be able to get through it alone."
For Galaso, "I think the biggest part that I've learned and grown from is understanding that I can reach out for help," she said. "I can put myself out of my comfort zone and speak in front of people."
Their reward for resilience and perseverance was graduation like it should be with friends and family.
"It was definitely really fun being able to be shoulder to shoulder with your classmates that you were with all four years and getting an actual graduation," Simmerman said.
Simmerman will stay in McKinney until he starts law school. Galaso's time in the northeast goes on with a Teach for America assignment in New York.
"My mom always says this, you know, let your kids have wings, like, let them spread their wings," she said.
COVID clipped their wings for a little while but these 2024 graduates are ready to fly.
"I feel like I'm someone who is way more confident in myself and is able to, you know, find what I really want in life," Simmerman said.
