For high school students, graduation is the reward at the end of their adolescent educational journey. It’s the moment seniors look forward to in anticipation since the moment they began their first day of freshman year.   

Graduation symbolizes both  accomplishment and gratitude not only for students, but also for their loved ones.

Unfortunately for the class of 2020, their commencement ceremony dreams were (verb agreement)crushed due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

Since the shutdown of schools across the country, all students  set to graduate this year have already been stripped of traditional activities and events specifically for the senior class such as senior ditch day, senior ball, senior prank and now graduation.

Rio’s seniors, along with many others, hoped to experience the traditional graduation ceremony we’d been dreaming of for so long. But that hope was laid to rest with the recent news of a virtual graduation.

The news has come with frustration, disappointment and sadness along with a range of other dissatisfied feelings. The San Juan Unified School District released the heartbreaking dreadful news to families on May 1 in an impassioned email to the dismay of many students.

Many students expected this news as many other districts in other states and cities have decided on the same method to honor seniors, but the unpleasant feelings still arrived once it was confirmed.

We know it is in the best interest of students and families because of health and safety concerns due to Covid-19, but the idea of a virtual graduation is extremely disheartening. Alternative forms of graduation have been seen in other states such as drive-through graduations, where students leave their cars one by one and grab their diplomas before returning to their cars.

Although this isn’t ideal, it’s much better than watching a live stream of our names being called over Youtube.

Rio has made the executive decision to hold a Youtube streaming ceremony on Jun.9 at 6 p.m. Most students don’t find this set-up to be appealing even in the slightest way, and don’t even wish to watch it. Many of us feel as though this decision makes what is supposed to be one of the most important days of our lives simply insignificant.

Although we know the circumstances are nothing anyone could have ever imagined or have ever experienced before, alternative ideas should have been put into consideration for those in charge and students and their families to decide on.

This decision feels poorly thought out and inconsiderate, and us seniors hope to be able to come up with an alternative way to celebrate our hard work.