The Class of Covid-19
I recently had a conversation with my mum where I remarked “I’m not the class of 2020, I’m the class of COVID-19”. She wasn’t too keen on this, not understanding why I would want to permanently associate my University graduation with the Pandemic. Well, my graduation IS permanently associated with the Pandemic. I will never get to complete my degree again, I will never get to submit my final courseworks along with my flatmates and course-mates, I won’t get the infamous ‘dissertation pic’, I won’t get to finish my university experience. It’s just over – with the click of an upload button at 9pm in my childhood bedroom.
This story is the exact same one that most of my friends have, the same one that every final year university student will have. It’s an extremely confusing and uncertain time for us. We know that there is so many, much worse, things happening as a result of this virus and we know that we are still getting our degree. The end of university is a time of great change in general, and can be very difficult to navigate. For us, the feeling of unfinished business and an anti-climactic ending, with a lot of uncertainty surrounding graduate employment has been added.
Now graduation is cancelled. I know it’s silly to say, but with the prospect of no graduation, part of me thinks ‘What’s the point in the past four years?’ ‘Why I have I even bothered?” We’re sold the image of graduation, in our caps and gowns smiling for photos with our family from before we even make the decision to attend university. At the start of final year, we make promises to ourselves that we’ll get through it, it will be worth it for graduation and grad ball. Ask anyone and they’ll more than likely tell you that graduation was one of the happiest days of their life. They’ll be able to show you cheerful photos from their ceremony and their gorgeous grad ball dresses. The Class of 2020 won’t get a graduation photo. We won’t get a grad ball. We didn’t even get to have the last four months of our university career. I can’t begin to explain how that feels. We’re constantly overwhelmed with a sense of loss and sadness, but constantly trying to suppress this because we also have a feeling of guilt hanging over us: why are we so upset about no graduation? There’s much worse happening.
The Class of 2020 did everything right. We showed up, we worked hard, we completed our deadlines and we did our best. We don’t deserve this. At a time where we are supposed to be transitioning into our adult lives, many of us have found ourselves back home in our parents’ house, feeling like we’ve taken four steps back. It’s hard. We’re allowed to feel sad, our emotions will come in waves. Yes, this isn’t the worst thing in the world but it is nowhere near what it should have been and we are allowed to mourn this loss.
I really hope that when recruiters and HR staff see a 2020 graduation date on a pile of job applications in front of them, they’ll give it a second look. This is a group of people that have had to finish dissertations, create portfolios and sit exams during a worldwide Pandemic. We are resilient, we are determined, and to be honest, we’re freaking talented. I am so proud of everyone completing their university degree in the summer of 2020, myself included. We still did it. I am positive that we will all get exactly where we are meant to be and we will all achieve great things. This challenge has made us so much stronger.
We are The Class of 2020 but we are also The Class of Covid-19. It’s a badge of honour, a mark of strength. 20 years from now, when someone asks “What did you do during the Pandemic?” we’ll be able to answer “We completed a university degree.” So if you are a part of this community – and that is what we are, a community – please know that you are allowed to feel sad, you’re allowed to be angry and you are allowed to mourn. What you also need to remember is that you should be so proud of yourself: you did it. We did it.
Instagram: @catcbell
