![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
Class of 2020
Yesterday was Bryn Mawr May Day, a celebration of the end of classes held on the last Sunday of the spring term, the turning point between the end of classes and the beginning of finals. Graduation is two weeks later; reunion, two weeks after that. This year, as you might expect, all in-person festivities were cancelled, including the various alum events around the country, but a number of activities were moved online, organized through a private Facebook group. I attended a couple of them (most notably the online Step Sing), and I took advantage of the fit of nostalgia to scan most of my college photos. I won't post them publicly here -- too many faces of people who can't consent -- but I'll think of something to do with them.
My thoughts have also turned, as they so often do when I think about Bryn Mawr lately, to the Class of 2020. And not just my Mawrter siblings, but the seniors at every school and campus from which students graduate. I'm disappointed enough to lose my 25th reunion; I can't even imagine what a blow it would have been to lose my graduation, my last May Day, senior week, three whole months of my senior year. To leave campus for Spring Break and not know that it was goodbye, to the school and to my entire community. It would have been utterly devastating. So if any of you are reading this, know that my heart aches for you, and all the losses I'm sure you're grieving right now. It's hard to believe this today, but I promise you that graduation is not an ending but a beginning, a step that brings you into the wider world of the Bryn Mawr community. You're a Bryn Mawr student for four or so years; you're a Mawrter for life, and nothing will take that away. The relationships you've forged on campus will continue to be among the most important you'll ever have, and if you stay connected to the alum network, you'll discover some amazing new ones, too.
As a member of the Class of 1995, I look forward to seeing you in five years and welcoming you into our Reunion cohort. Your 25th will be our 50th, and as far away as I'm sure 2045 feels right now (I know how impossibly distant 2020 felt when I was a senior), it'll be here before you know it. Maybe we'll look back on 2020, and we'll laugh together and we'll cry together, and we'll remember what it was like to be Mawrters together, here in this weird moment out of time.
(Although these thoughts come from my own, personal, Bryn Mawr context, I have to imagine they apply to almost anyone graduating from college this year. Your alum network is out there, too, ready to welcome you in. I hope you find whatever support you need.)
My thoughts have also turned, as they so often do when I think about Bryn Mawr lately, to the Class of 2020. And not just my Mawrter siblings, but the seniors at every school and campus from which students graduate. I'm disappointed enough to lose my 25th reunion; I can't even imagine what a blow it would have been to lose my graduation, my last May Day, senior week, three whole months of my senior year. To leave campus for Spring Break and not know that it was goodbye, to the school and to my entire community. It would have been utterly devastating. So if any of you are reading this, know that my heart aches for you, and all the losses I'm sure you're grieving right now. It's hard to believe this today, but I promise you that graduation is not an ending but a beginning, a step that brings you into the wider world of the Bryn Mawr community. You're a Bryn Mawr student for four or so years; you're a Mawrter for life, and nothing will take that away. The relationships you've forged on campus will continue to be among the most important you'll ever have, and if you stay connected to the alum network, you'll discover some amazing new ones, too.
As a member of the Class of 1995, I look forward to seeing you in five years and welcoming you into our Reunion cohort. Your 25th will be our 50th, and as far away as I'm sure 2045 feels right now (I know how impossibly distant 2020 felt when I was a senior), it'll be here before you know it. Maybe we'll look back on 2020, and we'll laugh together and we'll cry together, and we'll remember what it was like to be Mawrters together, here in this weird moment out of time.
(Although these thoughts come from my own, personal, Bryn Mawr context, I have to imagine they apply to almost anyone graduating from college this year. Your alum network is out there, too, ready to welcome you in. I hope you find whatever support you need.)
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject