I'm In Awe with the Perseverance, Positivity, Integrity, and Strength of the Class of 2020. I Applaud Them

Chitunga returned from LeMoyne a few weeks ago, cheated out of the last 7 weeks of his semester, completing a Masters degree in person, and carrying forth with a graduation. Instead, he returned home, hunkered into his books and routines, rearranged his furniture to make a make-shift office, and kept himself on schedule.

Last spring, he wouldn't allow us to celebrate his undergraduate graduation because, as he said, "I want to complete something better." That is what he's been doing as a EY scholar for the past year. Arrangements were being made for two parties - one in Syracuse and one in Connecticut. He was finally going to allow me to applaud his hard work, achievements, and his stepping out into the world.

We'll still figure out a plan, but I'm not sure what that will be. For now, he and I have fallen into our routines. We're both up early and grunt over coffee, but then shut ourselves in our rooms. Edem works from downstairs, because he has the 1st floor to himself. Glamis cons all of us, and walks three times a day and also receives too many bowls of food (we need to get better at marking who has fed her and when). Each of us take off in different directions for physical exercise when the time is right - Edem usually in the morning (he is weight-lifting with the rocks from the back yard), me later with my 5K, and Chitunga while the sun sets, either at a high school track or at the beach.

Then it is work all night, sometimes dinner together, and occasionally a show to unwind. Chitunga is  2 of 4 courses away from his graduate degree, and although he has to study for his licensing exams, he will have freedom in his schedule that he's not had in 6 years...space to be human. His nose has been in the grind, balancing books, internships, jobs, apprenticeships, and payments. When he is suddenly released and closer to fine, as the Indigo Girls might sing, he will be introduced to a whole new calendar of time and space.

Of course, that space to be inhabited is limited right now and for the unforeseen future.

And I'm thinking about my graduate students and seniors at Fairfield University - the ones I've been lucky to work with. They all remain upbeat, real, and high-spirited even with the gloom and bummer that has been 2020. I am also reading how some high schools are creating roadways filled with photos of every senior in recognition of their time in the K-12 cycle. The Brown in KY, where I taught, has announced they are featuring a senior a day on social media. That's nice. These individuals deserve recognition, applause, and a milestone in the journey.

It's important. It matters. I wonder, too, how this generation of young people will look back at this time. For generations, we've been able to offer a better world to those stepping out into it, but this is a rough time right now. I can't make predictions yet, but I imagine they are internalizing it all and will come back with a fight like we've never seen before.

That's what we must hope for.