By Emma Wulfhorst
After four years of hard work, Kirsten Koedding graduated from Quinnipiac University’s School of Communications May 9 with a master’s degree. But instead of walking across a stage on the Connecticut campus, she put on her cap and gown, stood in her front yard in Middletown with her parents and sister, and waved as friends and family drove past her house, cheering and honking their car horns.
Welcome to reality for the Class of 2020.
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed all aspects of life for students, but especially for college seniors. The in-person academic year was cut short, campuses were closed and online meeting apps became classrooms. Most students moved back home to complete the semester. Fun activities planned just for seniors were scrapped. And graduation ceremonies, the culmination of four years of hard work, were canceled or postponed indefinitely.
“There’s a lot of stuff that I wish I could have done,” said Koedding. Quinnipiac, like most colleges and universities across the country, switched to online classes for the rest of the semester in March. This meant canceling all “senior week” and similar celebratory events for students.
“We were supposed to go to a brewery that’s near Quinnipiac,” Koedding said. “Then usually the week between finals and graduation, the local bars and clubs have senior week events. We were all very disappointed that we weren’t able to do that, obviously.”
Jimmy Keating, a senior at Stockton University in Galloway, also missed all of his senior events due to COVID-19. “There was a cruise thing they were going to do,” said Keating, also from Middletown. “I had like two or three things circled that I wanted to go to, just unfortunately, we didn’t make it that far.”
Quinnipiac and Stockton are both promising students an in-person graduation ceremony in the future, once public gatherings are deemed safe and allowed, but many colleges and universities across the country simply canceled commencement exercises altogether, opting for virtual ceremonies or nothing at all. For now, Keating will have to settle for a virtual commencement May 15. But he said nothing compares to a true, in-person graduation with friends and family. “Just all the hard work, you know, it’d be nice to get recognized.”
Koedding agreed. “We’ve worked for so many years and semesters to get to this point,” she said. She feels the last two months of college “are supposed to be our celebration of how hard we’ve worked.
“That is probably the worst part,” she said, “that we weren’t able to finally be like, ‘Yes, we did it.’ ”
To make virtual commencements a little more like the real thing, many schools sent seniors some version of the traditional graduation garb, from caps and tassels to sashes and honor cords.
“They mailed our caps and gowns to us, which I got last week,” said Christina Buzzanco of Red Bank, a soon-to-be graduate of Villanova University. Her mom took “graduation” pictures of her in their backyard. Villanova’s commencement will be virtual with an on-campus ceremony at some point. Many faculty and staff are also trying to stem the disappointment by providing unusual congratulatory messages for the Class of 2020.
“I think the professors are putting together a video that’s for us,” said Buzzanco.
In addition to missing all the pomp and circumstance, 2020 college graduates also have to contend with the weakened job market created by COVID-19. As a communications student looking to get a job in television, Koedding is concerned her line of work might be nonexistent for a while.
“As of right now, the jobs that I want and the companies that I want to work for are on a hiring freeze,” she said. “So for someone like me who is diving into the workforce in this terrible time, it’s nerve-racking. I really hope that I’m going to be able to get a job in anything remotely close to what I want to do.”
Keating said he feels the same way. He was a criminal justice major and said when he thinks about getting a job, “there’s definitely some sense of nervousness there.” But he’s staying positive.
“I’m trying not to worry too much about it, you know, because it’s only going to make it worse.”
Buzzanco planned to find a job, take the LSAT in late summer and apply to law schools this fall. Sitting for the law school entrance exam may also end up being an online event or she may have to wait to take it.
“On the bright side, I’ll get more time to prepare for it,” she said. But finding a job for a year before she starts law school will be tough. “Nobody’s hiring now. The place I already submitted my application to, they’re like, ‘Well, we’re not taking anybody right now,’ ” Buzzanco said.
But she is trying to stay positive, if she does get a job. “I might find something that I really enjoy doing and not go to law school, either.”
All the graduates commiserated with high school seniors who are going through a similar situation. Looking back on their college years, all three offered advice to members of the Class of 2024, who may have to start their college experience the way the Class of 2020 ended it – online. “My advice to incoming freshmen anywhere, but especially at Quinnipiac, is, it’s worth the wait,” Koedding said.
“You will have the experience that you were waiting for,” she said, “it just might be a little delayed.”
“My advice would be that everybody’s in the same boat,” said Buzzanco. “So everybody’s feeling the same thing you are and
it sucks, but it’s just temporary.”
And temporary means things can and probably will change for the better.
“You know, I’m a big believer in you just got to make the best of a bad situation,” Keating added. “Stockton definitely had its ups and downs, but you know, there were four great years and I had a lot of fun, met some good people, made some good friends and had some great professors. You just got to enjoy the ride.”
Said Koedding about her time at Quinnipiac: “I had the best 3.75 years of my life there.”
The article originally appeared in the May 14 – 20, 2020 print edition of The Two River Times.
