Graduates, you need to read this - A Letter to the Class of 2020

Dear Class of 2020,

This year should have been the big ending that we all dream of as students. Walking out that final exam, enjoying the summer with our friends and celebrating the end of an amazing chapter for all of us. But we did not get that, instead we faced the consequences that came with Covid-19. Over the period of five months we watched as that ending we deserved, that we worked for, slipped away and become a distant memory of what could have been. 

I have been reflecting on when this all started. I remember getting the email telling us that we wouldn’t be coming back after the Easter break. It began to sink in how I wouldn't be finishing my degree at the place where it all began. That the chance to celebrate with the people I had known for four years around me was slipping away, that in fact I may never see some of these people ever again. A few days after I received this email it was announced that the UK was going into lockdown, and it truly felt like my final year was tumbling down around me.

So for the next few months at home I completed my final pieces of coursework. Each essay completed was another step closer to being finished, but what did that mean anymore? When I submitted my final piece of coursework, I felt nothing. There was no excitement, no relief, just a feeling of what now. Still, we had to remain inside, so hours turned to days, days to weeks, then before you know it summer had rolled around.

Gone was the summer filled with celebrating our hard work and enjoying the last term of university. There would have been nights out, parties and BBQs, the choice to go down the pub and sit outside enjoying the sunshine. These were things that should have happened, but just didn’t. 

What hurts the most is that Covid-19 denied me, like many other students across the world, the final celebration we all look forward to - our graduation. Hiring a gown, booking a table for a meal, looking our best for pictures that didn't happen. Instead, I received my certificate through the post which since arriving has been looked at once and put away to be kept safe.

Things weren’t meant to be this way for us, but this is what we’ve had to deal with. We've been thrown into this overwhelming situation, a rollercoaster ride which we can't just choose to stop and get off (although I wish it was that simple). 

I’ve seen graduates posting about how they’ve either had their grad scheme cancelled or postponed, whilst others have been sat away quietly feeling lost and with no real sense of direction of where to go next. There are many of us out there who are currently feeling this way. We are the Class of 2020 who are entering a new and unpredictable world.

Yet somewhere amongst the feeling of doom and gloom is a glimmer of hope.

What Covid-19 has offered for graduates is a time to think. To consider whether you really wanted to jump straight into a job once finishing university. To take some time out for and your mental health, allowing you to be kind to your mind in ways you had not the chance before. Not having to sit all those exams and juggle applying for graduate schemes allows you to step back and think about what matters to you. Now if that is getting a job right away, great! But it is also ok if that is not what you want. You can choose what your priorities are, you can decide to do what suits you best.

There are so many articles online which call us the "unlucky graduates", but I don't want that to be our label going forwards. I want us to be known as the "resilient graduates", the ones who still managed to achieve a degree during a pandemic! The ones who are growing every day, learning to love and look after ourselves and those around us. The ones who are going to inspire others because we kept pushing on and let nothing hold us back.

Things are not great right now, and we know that. But we also know we can and will get through this. 

So to the graduates of 2020, this is a reminder. We have finished this academic year stronger, wiser and more resilient than we could have ever imagined. Be proud of what you have managed to achieve during a pandemic. Whatever stage you are at right now post-university is ok, and before you realise, you will already be onto that next step in your life. We may not have had the ending to university that we deserved, but if we can get through this, we can face anything that life throws at us next. 

I hope you enjoyed my first blog post! If you would like to chat then please feel free to email or DM me on my Instagram @keys.thoughts