The Class of COVID-19

The class of 2020 may as well be known as the class that had a global pandemic tied to their graduation timeline

By Yves De Jesus

My, oh my. Who would have imagined that this is how my class, the class of 2020, would be graduating? I’ve had many things thrown in my face, but graduating in the middle of a pandemic? Can it get any worse?

I will spare you the endless ranting about the canceled, now-virtual commencement ceremony. Instead, I want to share with you an overview of my time at the University: my take on the conclusion of it all, while acknowledging the sense of uncertainty that has set in for my graduating class, including myself. At the very least, I want to know how I’ll come out on the other side of the pandemic when the dust settles.

After four years of academic rigor and personal discovery, my undergraduate days are coming to an end. I have met so many wonderful people and done so many things that my former self would not believe. And yet, as I near the end of my time as an undergraduate, I don’t have the feeling of transformation that I was expecting. I had assumed that a feeling of self-transformation accompanied every graduation. But I feel normal. I don’t feel like a changed Yves. I don’t know how to explain this uncertainty. I’m not saying that I didn’t learn anything during my time here at the U. As I look back at my time here, I think that maybe this feeling of normalcy is a sign that I was capable of learning and doing new things all along.

What is also a strange feeling is finishing a significant chapter of one’s life without the satisfaction of saying goodbye to the people who have made that journey worthwhile and unforgettable. However, I think the reunion that will follow will eclipse the mixed emotions that we experience as we graduate. To my peers, I say, we must look onto what awaits us next. Depending on who you ask, what lies on the other side might be terrifying or it might be terrific—whatever it may be, I know that we will rise up to meet the challenge. 

To celebrate the oddity of this time that we’re living in and in which my class will be graduating, I want to raise a glass of wine that only the depths of my creativity can conjure: a finely-aged Nero d'Avola, sourced from a winery somewhere in Sicily to give us that distinct dense, dark, and smoky flavor (with a hint of licorice). Cheers to the class of 2020. I hope when employers see “class of 2020” on our resumés, they give us a second read for we are the class of COVID-19. Cheers to my peers, especially those from the journalism school—you know who you are. May you continue to be relentless in your pursuits. Cheers. Ski-U-Mah.