Like most high school seniors, 18-year-old Matt Beiger won’t have a formal high school graduation this year. There will be no pomp and no circumstance. He won’t get to walk across a stage or pose for the camera while he accepts his diploma.
Despite this disappointment, Beiger and his classmates were determined to find a way to celebrate their achievements. So, he did what most teenagers do nowadays: He turned to a social media app.
Along with his fellow student governor members, Beiger created an online yearbook on Instagram for Georgia’s Dunwood High School students. It features portraits of the graduating seniors, along with their post-graduation plans and favorite high school memories. Below the posted pictures, classmates can comment as a kind of yearbook signature, and younger students can bid their elder classmates farewell.
“We’re disappointed to not have the opportunity to celebrate in person, but I think like a lot of kids, we’re glad we have social media to be able to connect with everyone virtually,” Beiger told the New York Times.
Graduation isn’t the only rite of passage high school seniors have missed out on. Proms across the country have been canceled due to COVID-19 as well. And much like the virtual yearbook trend, local communities have had to get creative to come up with an online solution. One Michigan theater hosted a prom on Facebook, inviting a DJ to play live music on its page for a few hours while high school seniors tuned in. And in Virginia, a local television station helped seniors celebrate by airing submitted pictures of the students in their prom attire.
One of the things high school seniors haven’t missed is senioritus. In fact, they might have it even worse than any preceding class. Even though today’s students have more freedom and less homework thanks to school closures, it’s difficult to remain motivated when there’s no longer a goal to look forward to.
“It feels like after a marathon, our water bottles have been taken away,” Ellie Morgan, a senior at Northwood High school, told the Bethesda Beat. “Many times, I have thought to myself, ‘If I can pass this test, I can make it to that stage and walk across,’ but now, it feels as if that accomplishment is tainted.”
The digital yearbooks and online proms might not make up for everything high school seniors have lost, but they have helped students find closure and clarity: “Our last day of school was just a random Thursday,” Ariana Mendoza, 18, told the New York Times. “They never said to say bye to our friends or teachers who we might never see again.”
Through Zoom calls and Instagram comments, students are learning how to say goodbye to a part of their lives they’ll never get back, and a childhood that ended prematurely. It’s a loss they’ll feel for a long while yet.
