Announcement: Class of 2020 Graduation Takeback

It goes without saying that everyone has been touched by a loss this spring. But I’m here to focus on taking back a feeling this evening.

I was standing in the senior hallway in early March when the announcement was made that the senior trip to Carowinds was canceled at the high school where I contract as a speech-language pathologist.

It was like the air had been vacuumed out of the building. You could hear a sucking, silencing woe. And unfortunately, that wouldn’t be the last blow dealt to the class of 2020.

But I want to help our seniors of 2020 to take something back from the year that was swept away from them: graduation.

Graduation seems like something we can do something about. The big ceremonies have been canceled, but most schools in this area still got caps and gowns out. I’ve seen that schools in Wake County are saluting seniors via Instagram in the coming days.

But what about those photos with your friends and family? What about the photo you wanted to snap with your best friends, tassels turned, on a bright, sunny morning in June?

Well, that got me thinking. I thought about organizing Graduation Takeback sessions.

A what, you might say?

Here’s the 411: you and a few friends and family (whole group <10!) to gather with social distance on a bright, sunny morning in June. We organize something that celebrates you, and celebrates your friends, who you wanted to spend these last moments of school with. Maybe we even acknowledge what happened. Maybe we wear a mask for one photo, and tear them off for the next. We express your feeling of 2020.

And there’s no session fee. All you do is fill out the form here so that I can call you and schedule it.

You in? Let’s take this back.