Graduating in Lockdown

The world is a crazy place right now and all our lives have been turned upside down, flipped around, and shaken up. But throughout all of this, the class of 2020 has been working towards their graduation and taking final assessments. Whilst we are all aware that we are in no way the worst off in this situation and there are much larger problems in play right now, we must all still recognise that it is tough for this class.

We have lost access to libraries and our campus, thus making taking assessments increasingly difficult. Writing a 10,000-word dissertation or 2,000-word essay is difficult enough with full access to university resources but when this is reduced to online-access only, it can induce anxiety and panic. You start thinking 'will I be able to get all the information I need?' or 'how am I supposed to write this essay if I can only access a few articles?'. As students, paid memberships to sites are often not an option when living on a budget so we are reliant upon what online resources our libraries are able to provide and any open-access options. Thankfully many institutions, publishers, and sites opened up their archives at the beginning of the lockdown period relieving some of this pressure. Some have extended this open-access for even longer than originally announced to allow research on all levels to continue. We are all aware that everyone in the academic community did and are doing everything they possibly could to make this transition as easy as possible, ensure we had access to resources, and make assessments fair. Exams moved online as timed coursework, word counts could be altered, statements could be made on the effect of lockdown, some deadlines were changed and extenuating circumstances could be applied for.

Throughout our degrees we have been working towards that graduating moment, to wear the robes and walk across that stage to get our degree. We have been waiting to take those pictures to proudly post on social media and share them with families. We haven't been able to say our goodbyes to friends, peers, and staff that impacted and helped, not only our degrees but our lives. This experience that everyone before was able to take for granted has been taken away from us, or at least postponed for a year. Whilst these postponed ceremonies are a great opportunity to celebrate later, this graduating class will be scattered across the world which may limit how many can return for this special day. Still, we appreciate the thought, time, and effort put into ensuring we still get to celebrate this great achievement in whatever format this may take. I am fortunate that my institution is giving us a 'virtual graduation' via YouTube Live that we can pre-submit videos for if we wish as a placeholder celebration until we can reunite in summer 2021 to walk.

I appreciate all the hard work put in by the staff in my academic school - you are all incredible and I cannot imagine how difficult this has been for you whilst taking care of arrangements to ensure we are all supported and treated fairly. The institutions as a whole have been working tirelessly to prepare for this 'new normal' we will be entering into in the 20/21 academic year.

To the class of 2020, wherever you are, congratulations, and good luck!

Cover image was drawn by Jessica Peto (@jessrpeto) of us and our friend Cameron Wallis (@camyou_not) to celebrate our graduation when pictures were impossible.

@ClareParry_ @jessrpeto @camyou_not