Nothing like a giant formal celebration to celebrate those four hard-working years of high school. But what’s this? The infamous Covid-19 is, surprise surprise, changing things up. 

Unfortunately, this year Thomas Edison will not be holding the graduation ceremony in another college theater or anything of the sort. Instead Seniors will be graduating at the place where it all started, their own school. 

Now this does not mean the ceremony will stink like expired eggs and milk, it just won’t feel as special when it’s going to be done in separate groups, based on your shop. So I hope you kept in touch with your shop mates because they will be the ones to congratulate you on stage. 

Because of this, seniors were actually given the choice to choose between an in person graduation or a virtual one, the choice is all theirs (or their mothers). 

The question is, what made certain Seniors choose to miss out on the live experience you only get once, twice if you go to college? Middle and elementary school do not count and that’s final. 

Now, the majority of Thomas Edison seniors decided to go to the in person graduation and the reason why makes for a more boring version of the story, because originally it’s supposed to be 100% in person. So let’s look deeper into the option that will probably exist only in the 2021 graduating year. 

The way to choose is with a nice and simple google form sheet, determining your future celebration with one click. It’s not such an easy choice when you can only bring two guests and you have the option to save money by skipping on buying another One-Time cap and gown.

Let’s look into the real reasons why some Seniors decided to skip out on an in person graduation this year.

 Cisco computer Networking Senior Navid  decided to go virtual, and when asked why he decided that, he replied with “most of my friends were doing the virtual graduation.” He also responded that if they chose to go in person, he would have changed his mind. 

This shows that some students rely on each other when making these types of decisions, just like how it’s unlikely for a student to go to Le Show or Karaoke Night by themselves or with one other friend, everything’s better with a group. It’s almost like a cycle saying “if he does not go I’m not going” then another says “well if HE’s not going, me neither!” and so on and so forth.

Senior Ram Bagga, an IT specialist, decided that he rather enjoy dedicating time at home with his family, mainly because he felt he would not enjoy celebrating in small groups with people he does not associate with often as much as he would with his day one folks. 

“I won’t necessarily get to meet some of my friends at graduation, or a virtual graduation might be lame,” Bagga said. However, in the end he stated he does not regret his decision.

But it’s not all about friends and foes, some students are still not comfortable with the covid situation just yet, and Computer repair man Syed Ali is one of them. Same question asked about his decision, and he said “covid is still a big thing. I don’t really trust the school’s precautions, and it’s also more convenient for me to stay home.

No regrets about his decision and the only thing that would have changed his mind would be if Covid, or rather a pandemic, never occurred and that is completely reasonable. Some students still have people they wish to keep safe.

So there are hundreds of Seniors graduating this year and although I only got information and reasons from a handful of them, most reasons appear to be similar. It’s no surprise or unknown fact that students are the reason that they have fun at school with each other, whether it be goofing around, being relatable or having a reason to look forward to the next day, unless there’s an exam in your algebra or chemistry class.

One thing is for sure though, whether you chose in person or online, going to college or not, we all freaking did it. Four long years of high school finally completed, and we all reached one of our first major accomplishments. This is just the end of the prologue my friends, be happy, be proud, and more importantly don’t frown because it ended, smile because it happened. A sincere congratulations to everyone, from yours truly.