THERE'S A CERTAIN level of pride you feel seeing your child toss that graduation cap—reflecting back on the countless late nights, stress, fretting over tests, navigating social dynamics, and all the many things high school brings. This special group of seniors began their high school journey in the middle of the pandemic, and have successfully moved their tassels in spite of it all. We on the Redmond School Board have an added level of pride to see such a large group of students moving on successfully from our programs in Redmond, after an arduous past few years.
Four years ago when this class was freshmen, they observed their seniors miss out on graduation ceremonies due to the pandemic. I remember thinking, ‘will our future ever be the same?’ ‘Will our seniors get back the graduation ceremony experience?’ Special events like graduations are markers for a student’s life journey. It embeds a certain confidence in accomplishment, and stirs students to seek new successes and accomplishments as they move forward in life.
During the pandemic, and the uncertain, fear-riddled atmosphere, we saw kids fall through the cracks, we saw youth in abusive homes suffer more, and we saw unprecedented levels of depression and hopelessness. It was a heavy time for adults, but even heavier for children. This is one of the reasons I ran for school board. It’s been a slow recovery to shift back to normal after such an abnormal time, and it's taken a lot of work and intention navigating through such a challenging time for the board. This graduating class has experienced the full spectrum of the covid journey: from starting high school in chaos amid a pandemic, to closing out their time successfully in spite of it all.
Way to go Class of 2024 for sticking it out and grabbing your future by the reins. We’re excited to see you shine out in the world. Here's to many more successes ahead of you!
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