The Class of 2021 Should Graduate Together

By Grace Cleary

May 10, 2021

Obviously, this is not a normal year with the pandemic leaving many to wonder what will happen to important senior events such as Prom and Graduation. While we now have more clarity on Prom this year, perhaps the most important event graduation does not have a date yet.

With the lack of information provided to the students, many wonder if we will end up having small groups of graduations like they had last year. This is something I would rather not do, and think we should all be able to graduate together.

It’s important to end our senior year together as a group in a bigger event, especially because we missed an entire senior year and it would be a good parting gift to all be together one last time.

Also, it is a lot safer now with 48.6% of the total New York State population receiving their first dose according to the COVID-19 Vaccine Tracker website.

Many people question what would be involved with hosting such a big event, such as how many family members would be allowed to attend and what the protocol would be in regards to testing and vaccination. And the truth is yes, holding an event of that size would require people to be tested or to show proof of vaccination. However, for such an important event, I don’t think it’s a lot to ask for people to follow the state guidelines, especially when bigger events in our state already require proof of vaccination.

We might have to compromise on the number of family members a student is allowed to bring; we have been hearing numbers between 4-5 for a full graduation with all 363 kids in our class.

Graduation is about the seniors, and we have improved significantly from what we are allowed to do this year compared to last year, so why settle for a lesser graduation? Now we have a vaccine and a better understanding of the virus with newer regulations. Let’s take advantage of this.

After a senior year full of uncertainty, anxiety, and virtual schooling, it would be a good ending to try and have somewhat of a normal graduation. If we are able to plan big events where we can all be together such as Prom, I would hope we could follow through on a more important event such as graduation.

Ultimately it would be best to strive for normal put-together graduation to show progress in regards to the pandemic and have a safe but full graduation. If fewer family members are allowed to attend, and we all need to be tested beforehand, it seems like a small sacrifice in exchange for the promise of having in-person graduation with the entire class of 2021.