A year on pause: A Neepawa grad reflects on her 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 for a "virtual yearbook" for the class of 2020. Alex Hartle, a Neepawa Area Collegiate Institute student, reflects on her experience.

This pandemic hasn't been easy on anybody. We are all stuck inside, unable to work, and anxious about the uncertainty of the situation. For the ones on the front lines this is nerve-racking and their bravery is unmatched.

The class of 2020 has made it through major historical events together. We were born into 9/11 and are graduating within a global pandemic.

For this particular class, whether in high school or post-secondary, this pandemic will leave a lasting impression because of the milestones we are missing; however, these events also make us resilient and grateful for the moments that we are able to share together.

Graduations are being cancelled, senior trips and activities are cancelled, the last part of high school (commonly referred to as the best three months of our school career) are now being done at home, on our own.

It is unimaginable to think that we have spent 12 years of our lives working toward our graduation to have it stripped from us and our accomplishments left uncelebrated. For post-secondary students, the degrees and diplomas they have worked years for and spent hard-earned money on will be delivered to their doorstep and will be acknowledged by very few.

Needless to say, it feels like we have worked for nothing.

Milestones and misgivings

As for me, I was heavily involved with my school. For the past four years I have been a part of peer helpers, and we were just in the middle of planning what would have been my final school-wide breakfast when classes were cancelled.

Peer helpers is our school's group that focuses on social and emotional issues within the school and tries to educate the students and staff on ways to resolve these issues through a variety of different activities, like the breakfast that was focused around mental health.

I was asked to join the student council program for my senior year and we were a month out from our second attempt at a "wake-a-thon" that I had been in charge of planning since February. This event consisted of a group of about 70 students that would spend the night at the school and learn about the importance of being a good leader. This would build onto what our school called "school connectedness" — a focus on being connected to your classmates, peers, teachers, and the environment of the school.

On top of everything for the school, I was elected and served as the class co-chair for the graduation which, as you know, is not happening like it should be. I was given the news that I was valedictorian on my doorstep by my principal and will be delivering my speech via Zoom.

There are so many others like me that have put time and effort into not only their courses, but into high school experiences that are no longer happening.

These are moments that shape our personalities, broaden our horizons, and develop our characters as people of society. These are moments we have been robbed of and will not get the chance to regain.

There are so many experiences that have been changed or cancelled for the class of 2020 and it is very unfortunate for all of us; however, we are living history. There will (hopefully) be no other class like ours. On top of living through a pandemic together, we will come out of this quarantine as independent learners, tech-savvy future employees, and have gained life skills at home that we may have missed out on.

'As strong and persistent as ever'

We will be more patient, more kind, more closely bonded to the people we love, and never take for granted the lives we are lucky enough to live.

Though we want more than anything to celebrate our accomplishments in a meaningful way, we aren't looking for sympathy. We understand that this is no one's fault, and there are bigger issues at hand than our Grade 12 year. There are people risking their life and even dying for our safety, and ensuring these people stay safe is definitely our biggest concern.

This year hasn't been what it was supposed to be, and it isn't fair to anyone. But we are living proof that a class can suffer a pandemic and still be as strong and persistent as ever.

In a lot of ways, the COVID-19 pandemic has turned us into the class that never was, but it has turned us into a very unique class that can be, and will be, so many wonderful things.

— Submitted by Alexandria Hartle, Neepawa Area 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.