Graduation in the Age of Corona

graduation red and white robes

Today two of my girls will walk the gym floor. It will be just the two of them, their dad and I, and a school administrator. There will be no friends, no goodbyes to teachers, no cap toss, and no party afterward. In about ten days, they’ll log on to watch the virtual ceremony and will be officially graduated. It’s graduation in the age of corona.

Last weekend, my oldest had a virtual baccalaureate ceremony. Though she is technically graduated, her graduation ceremony from Malone University has been moved to late summer or autumn, with hopes they will be able to celebrate at that time.

It’s a strange world right now, in many ways. Outside of the actual sickness and the blow to the economy, this virus has also stolen from us our sense of time. 

Losing Our Markers of Time

With school not in session and work weeks interrupted, it’s nearly impossible to distinguish one day from the next.  The seasons, normally punctuated by sports seasons which no longer exist, blend together. Winter faded into spring and spring will fade into summer. 

Summer this year will hardly look like summer in Ohio. Many of the public pools have announced they will be closed for the season. As of this writing, campgrounds are still closed. Amusement parks may, or may not, stay shuttered. A growing list of festivals have called off their festivities for year. And this week, Red, White & BOOM!, the annual fireworks celebration in our capital city has cancelled for 2020. 

carnival ride tilt o whirl
Many of this summer’s festivals and events have already cancelled.


The milestones that mark our lives and usher us from one season of life to the next have largely disappeared. Weddings are being downsized or postponed. Birthdays are being celebrated in drive-by fashion. Graduations are virtual. And even the way we mourn our dead has been altered.

We are left to languish in a sea of uncertainty. We’re somewhat fearful of the virus, shaken by the economic implications, and desperate for a return to our normal lives. 

Even as things start to open again, we don’t know what this new normal looks like. How long will we be wearing our masks to go grocery shopping? When can we safely visit our grandparents again? Will the children return to school in the fall? Will there be spike in new cases or in the death count? 

Two graduate in white robes wearing face masks.
Graduation in the age of corona – graduation face masks.

All In This Together

At this point, no one knows the answers. But we’re all in this together, whatever this turns out to be.

But today, at least, I will go to a graduation. And I will watch as my girls put one foot in front of the other, walking into an uncertain future. And, like them, I will forge ahead, one step at a time.