Manitoba·Blog

'The world is a crazy place': A class of 2020 poet reflects on the year for CBC Manitoba's virtual yearbook

CBC Manitoba collaborated with high school students across the province to find out what it's like to graduate during a pandemic. Jace Crozier, a high school slam poet from The Pas, rhymes about the experience for CBC Manitoba's 2020 "virtual yearbook."

Jace Crozier from The Pas rhymes about what graduating is like during a pandemic

Jace Crozier is graduating from Margaret Barbour Collegiate Institute in The Pas, Man. He wrote a poem to capture how he's feeling about the experience of saying goodbye to high school during a pandemic. (Submitted by Jace Crozier)

CBC Manitoba collaborated with high school students across the province to find out what it's like to graduate during a pandemic for a "virtual yearbook" for the class of 2020. Jace Crozier, a high school slam poet from The Pas, rhymes about the experience.


We were challenged to come up with lyrics or a slam poem about things that were going on with our lives, how we're dealing with the whole COVID thing.

This is what I came up with: 

CLASS OF 2020: the world is a crazy place 

People getting mad, getting in each other's face

Wars starting over hate 

Peace comin' too late 

My life is just beginning 

This time I am winning, I need to be the change 

It's time to show my range, I'm the Class of 2020 

See me, hear me I'm the Class of 2020 

It's time for us to be the Class of 2020 

 

The change the world needs 

Soon it'll be my time to shine 

Gonna make this world mine 

College is on the horizon 

There'll be no compromisin' 

I've only begun to show what I can achieve 

I'm going to use my knowledge, wait and see 

You will know my name, I'm not looking for fame 

I'm the Class of 2020 

See me, hear me 

I'm the Class of 2020 

It's time for us to be the Class of 2020 

 

The change the world needs 

They try to bring us down COVID-19, murder hornets all around 

Mask up, glove up, wash your hands

It's more than most can stand 

But we're going to push through 

We are on the cusp, me and you 

Our dreams won't stop because of the madness 

They're only just beginning, no time for sadness 

I'm the Class of 2020 

See me, hear me I'm the Class of 2020 

It's time for us to be the Class of 2020 

The change the world needs I'm the Class of 2020

— Submitted by Jace Crozier, Margaret Barbour Collegiate Institute graduating class of 2020


About the Let's Hear it for the Grads project:

High school graduation looked very different this year because of COVID-19.

Some students might be heading off to university and leaving their small towns while others will enter the workforce and are uncertain about job prospects.

CBC Manitoba collaborated with high school students across the province to give a voice to their range of experiences and emotions about graduating during a pandemic, and help commemorate their rite of passage.

See more of the "virtual yearbook" here.