We can all agree right now is just overall a weird time in society. We turn on the T.V to constant updates about Covid-19. We click onto Netflix, to see that Tiger King is the top viewed show in the country. We log-onto our emails to see emails from our Universities and professors about remote-learning, Commencement updates and online resources. We get a knock on our door from the National Guard checking on the status of everyone in the house and informing us of the update guidelines. We go to the grocery store and to hear an announcement on the intercom saying that there are too many people in the grocery store per the Fire Marshalls orders and to get what you need and get out. All of these are completely out of the normal, right?
Well, from a last semester senior, this is more than out of the normal that we all planned on when entering this year and college in general. We had hopes of spending every moment making memories with our friends, skipping that one class (in-person) a few more times, comparing stories that night after going out, having the best senior week and furthermore walking across the stage in May with the people who have been there from the start. We all had big hopes and dreams that upon graduation we would all be returning to our hometowns with jobs secured and start our post-grad life on a high-note. So now what? Well, unlike those who have come before us, we won’t get to experience the fun times that we thought were going to happen, we will still be moving home, but won’t be walking the stage in May and we most likely won’t have jobs secured. We are going into the post-grad life with hopes that we make it out to the other side eventually. That all of those big hopes and dreams eventually happen. That those friends that you didn’t officially get to say your goodbyes to are able to visit eventually. We are hoping for the one email with the official status of Commencement and hope that everyone that we shared our college experiences with can be there eventually. Nothing is happening in the present and nothing is promise.
There is hope. Throughout, all of our lives we have been faced with different struggles and challenges. Like it is said “the comeback is greater than the setback”. We are in the setback. We are all afraid. We are all thinking about the fact that we will most likely be unemployed for some time. We are hoping that by some grace that the positions that were open prior to this are still somehow open. We hope that when the interviewer looks at our resumes they see that the experiences we have are not only good enough but that they are willing to take a chance on us. This is the unknown. This is the part where we hope that we get called back for the interview, it goes well and the interviewer sees that being a graduate in 2020 is something more than a degree status. It is being tossed into the unknown and handling it (maybe not well, but handling it). It shows that we can readily adapt and grow from that. Now, I’m not saying that every 2020 graduate is this awesome applicant and that you should sympathize with them but know that when you look at them, look at them based on what they have overcome and not what the stats are on their resume.
Now should be the time where we are excited for the future. I can honestly say, that is only partially true. We will get through this. We will go into the unknown with our hopes and dreams somewhat in-tact. We will remember this time and think what the heck happened?