Lauren Lejeune

The 2024 graduation season is nearing its end. We’ve come together to celebrate the accomplishments of those who have put in the hard work and to wish them well on their next adventure in life, whether that is onto a college campus or into the workforce. I was leaving the graduation parry of my dear friend, Virginia Lohr, when I began to think about my own graduation. 

I was part of the 2020 bunch of covid graduates. One day, we went on spring break and we just never came back to school. It was pretty awesome at the time, as I had just moved into an apartment with my classmate and friend Kenzie Clarkson. We had zoom classes online, hung out with our friends midday and basically did what we wanted (sorry, mom).

The downside to that was work pretty much slowed to nothing for a few months. But we managed to survive, pushing through till everyone stopped buying toilet paper in mass quantities and businesses were able to open back up. Do I think social distancing was a hoax? Absolutely. But this story is not about conspiracy theories, this is about the time jump between 2020 to 2024. 

I’ve seen other people post about this online, this feeling that 2020 JUST happened and not four years ago. My class, if taking the traditional route, just graduated college with their bachelors degrees. I personally did not take that route. I went to college for a semester and dropped out, something I would have never thought to do in my wildest dreams. Things worked out just fine for me, but life has just gone Mach 5 for so long that I feel like I should just be starting my jump into adulthood. 

If I had to guess, these feelings for me personally derive from the fact that our senior year did not end as it should have. I wrote about this for The Prowl, Powell High School’s student newspaper, when I was the opinion editor. It was also published with the Powell Tribune, in which our class shared some of their fears for what the rest of the school year had in store for them. We did not get a senior prom. We did not walk across the stage in the gymnasium, but rather the student parking lot. 

All of that is fine and well — I think the school did the best they could with the information and restrictions they had to work with. I still received my diploma and I still had a graduation. I even got to dress up with a few friends and get our pictures taken in our would be prom dresses. We made the best of it, something we will most certainly never forget about. 

And even though I keep asking myself where the time has gone, I’ve gotten to do some pretty amazing things in the past few years. I discovered that college was not for me. I worked at a sleep away kids camp in Pennsylvania country, an experience all on its own I could dedicate a handful of stories to. I have met beautiful friends, traveled to new places, opened up a website for my art, started a forever career and purchased my first home. I think I might want to write a book as well. 

If not for those “two weeks to curb the spread,” I’m not sure where exactly I would be. God has led me down a beautiful path, one that I am so very thankful to be on. No more senior fears, just the promise of tomorrow.