Graduation 2021

Graduation is finally here again! Being caught up in the Pandemic for a year has certainly made the end of last and this year very difficult but we are fortunate enough to still have an amazing end of the year graduation. Now that most Long Island schools are back in full swing, seniors are finally able to get ready for their graduation ceremony.

Last year, Graduation was split into multiple different days for our 2020 seniors, because of the higher precautions of COVID-19. Though it was a small celebration, last year seniors were still fortunate to have a small graduation and it managed to provide some normality during the hard times that we were, and still are, living in. Other schools had to have virtual Graduations because of the impact of COVID-19. Article by Vox.com titled, ‘School closes and virtual graduation: How Coronavirus has affected Senior Year.”, voices 5 High School seniors talking about the effect Corona has had on their graduation year, prom,and end of the year celebrations either postponed or fully canceled. The article not only talks about the graduations of high school students but college students as well. One senior in particular, Alexis Bamford, a senior at Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, talks about the events for her high school graduation she had been looking forward to since last year, “The seniors usually have an event called “Reflections,” where students and organizations perform, and then there’s Class Night, which is a big barbecue night where people wear a T-shirt of what college they’re going to. The school district has no information yet on what’s going to happen. There have been jokes about us having a Skype graduation among my friends and I, but it’s unfortunate. My family and I postponed my grad party indefinitely, and I even had my graduation dress picked out last June.” Bamford explains her personal hardships with graduation and other events for her senior year. 

Though the restrictions and miss out of High School graduation are devastating, College graduations have been more restricted because of the amount of students and families that live out of state, the different rules in each state regarding COVID and the population of the University. Some Universities are more strict than others. Graduation from Universities is the next step into the real world of becoming an adult; buying an apartment, getting your first internship or first job, ect. With the beginning of  COVID, colleges had no idea where the end of the year would bring them. “The Many Ways Colleges Are Handling Covid-Complicated Graduations” , an article by The New York Times, begins the article talking about how each college did for the 2020  graduation. The University of Tampa did a virtual graduation, other colleges, like Rhodes College, would seat guests in pods of eight and give each guest a ticket for purposes of contact tracing. UT Graduate, Allison Clark tells the article, ““To be with my classmates, to walk across the stage, to receive the diploma that we all worked so hard for, it means absolutely everything, and a 45-minute virtual commencement of my name being scrolled across the screen just simply wasn’t enough,” says Ms. Clark at the University of Tampa.” Though COVID rates have dropped since the vaccine came out, it still cannot make up for the loss of graduation some of these college graduates have felt the previous year. Thankfully, this year will be a bit different.

High schools, like Harborfields, have taken very important steps to have a safe graduation while keeping it fun. Graduation taking place outside on the football field will require a COVID test or proof that both vaccine doses have been taken. Going back to when we all returned back to school full time, restrictions were put up to make sure students and staff were socially distancing, and IQ codes were set up if it was necessary to contact [trace] someone who might have been exposed to COVID or someone with COVID. Safety restrictions such as these, as well as lifted restrictions from Governor Cuomo provided Harborfields to be able to finally be able to have a full prom and graduation. Further restrictions from New York State have made it eligible for up to 500 people being allowed in a single space. So how do we, the high school seniors, feel about being able to have a some-what back to normal graduation? I spoke with Sophia DiPrima, a HF senior graduate of the 2021 school year and to get her opinion on the setup of graduation this year: “I would have been fine with any graduation set up either way but as long as we’re safe while having a larger graduation and following COVID precautions, I think that it’s great.”, she stated. 

We are very excited to experience the chance for an almost normal graduation and a normal life again. Especially after being cooped up in the Pandemic for a year. While normality is still on the edge of returning and will probably be like that for a while, the Pandemic is still clearing up, motivating us for a bright future ahead. It is overwhelming and exciting all put together.