Dear Class of 2020,
Well, we (almost) made it. Something we’ve been looking forward to for the past 3.5 years has suddenly been ripped from our grasps, and now we’re at a loss.
Maybe you missed out on your senior spring sport season, your senior prom, spending these last couple months with your best friends, and eventually maybe even commencement. Perhaps the worst part is that we have no one to blame, except ourselves if we didn’t take full advantage of the time we had.
Novels could be written about how the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the world in ways we could never have foreseen, but I won’t get into that. The rapid transmission of the coronavirus destroyed a series of lasts that we, as seniors, will never get to have. You won’t compete in that tournament. She won’t wear that expensive dress. I probably won’t get to walk across that stage in my cap and gown and hear my name called as I stupidly grin and firmly shake the hand of the president of my university. That sucks. And we’re allowed to grieve those losses.
We’ve suddenly been thrust into this place of deep unknown. Is the market good enough that someone will hire me after I graduate? Will colleges be back up and running in time to welcome new freshmen in the fall? Will I ever see some of my classmates again? When’s the next time I’ll see my friends that live elsewhere in the country?
If nothing else, this time of great uncertainty, fear, and pain has been a great reminder that we weren’t made for this world to begin with. A deep darkness has set in throughout the world, tempting us to fall into despair and anguish. I’ll admit, in the past 24 hours, I’ve become well-acquainted with both despair and anguish at the thought of being separated from my friends and watching the remainder of our senior year slip away.
How fitting it is that we find ourselves in the season of Lent during this sorrowful time. But if Lent teaches us anything, it should be that evil and suffering always pass away. Always. There is always a joyous new beginning at the end of times of trial, but we can’t have Easter without Lent. Though we don’t know when COVID-19’s reign of terror will end, we know that one day it will, and it won’t get to have the final say. We, class of 2020, can look forward in joyful hope to the day when we are reunited with our friends and classmates and are truly given the opportunity to celebrate with gratitude all that we have accomplished.
Let us grieve. Let us mourn. But let us not lose hope.
To the Class of 2020 at UMary specifically: you have become a great family to me. What a great gift our community has been. My favorite memories were not only in Rome and Arizona, but also in the birthday celebrations, pancake and meme parties, the Thursdays at Chesterton’s, movie nights, and so much more. Our Lord Jesus truly softened and transformed my heart through your love for each other and your love for me. For that, I am eternally grateful. May we continue to strive to be saints, bringing all that UMary has taught wherever we go. UMary for life! I love you so, so much.
Run while you have the light of life, that the darkness of death may not overtake you.
-John 12:35
Sincerely,
Magdalen Helgeland
University of Mary, Class of 2020
Bachelor of Arts in Communication