Almost three months after Burlingame High School said it was just tacking on an extra week of spring break, seniors prepared to graduate after having only attended virtual classes for much of their second semester. I interviewed and photographed soon-to-be graduates of my alma mater's Class of 2020 as they navigated graduating high school during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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“It was sort of like, in general, a slow realization. It was kind of the thing where like ‘oh, school is cancelled for two weeks.’ And that turned to four, and then it was six, and then at that point, it was like ‘ok, we’re not going back.’” |
“I really highly doubted that school would be cancelled for the rest of the year. We kept joking that this would be our last day like ‘alright, I’ll see you later.’ We really thought that we would come back.” |
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“Honestly, it’s still very surreal to me. It still hasn’t really fully hit me that I’m graduating very soon, and everything else in the future is still uncertain. ... I feel like I didn't have the time to properly close out my high school career.” |
“The importance of graduation, ... it’s not really walking across the stage and getting my diploma. It’s more like being there with everyone who has been there along with me for the journey of not just high school, but like my whole experience in Burlingame.” |
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