By McKayla Tuten.
Did you know that according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the Word of the Year for 2020 was pandemic? I am sure that this is not a surprise to anyone, as 2020 was a year filled with masks, gloves, hand sanitizer, and toilet paper shortages. The year 2020 was the year that the coronavirus took the world by storm, resulting in a global pandemic. The year 2020 was also the year that I graduated from high school.
I remember starting my senior year in the fall of 2019 with so many plans and goals for my last year of high school. I was going to go to New York to sing at Carnegie Hall with my choral group, excited about going to my Senior Prom, looking forward to participating in an epic “Senior Prank”, and I was finally going to walk across the stage at the Colonial Life Arena like the many graduates before me. Needless to say, none of the above took place during my last year of high school.
In April of 2020, I vividly remember going to pick up my cap and gown in a drive-through line at the front of my high school. I remember my principal and teachers wearing masks and gloves as they set our caps and gowns in our cars. I remember asking my principal, with tears in my eyes, if we were going to have a graduation, and her explaining to me that she did not know, but she would inform my senior class as soon as possible. And I remember crying the entire drive home. I sat in our kitchen hugging my mom, telling her that I should be picking up and trying on my cap and gown with my friends and that it wasn’t fair that this was the way that I experienced this moment. 
As I mourned the missed opportunities of my senior year, I truly believe that I have never felt more loved and supported within my community. It was my community that made 2020 one of the most special years of my life. From senior parades and yard signs to virtual celebrations, my community truly gave me the opportunity to gain a sense of pride and appreciation for the people surrounding me.
I remember my family and I took a drive to see the Floor Boys’ billboard of graduates and the slideshow presentation of graduates on the sign of Southern Shores Dental. I sat in the car with my family anxiously waiting for my senior picture to be displayed on the screen. I remember the screen lighting up with my picture, and my mom taking pictures of the signs with her phone, my dad doting on how cool it was, and my brother commenting sarcastically about my new-found fame. I smiled the entire drive home.
2020 was a year that included many hardships and learning experiences. I honestly feel as though those hardships prepared my 2020 high school peers, along with myself, for the life in front of us. It was because of these hardships that we began to understand the world around us and the lessons that it intended to teach us. Furthermore, it is the people that stick by our side during those tough times that allow for a different and alternative perspective. We will experience many different types of disappointments and setbacks in life, but it is what we do with these misfortunes and the people that surround us that have the ability to alter the path before us.
Now, in 2024, the time has arrived for many 2020 high school graduates who chose to attend a four-year college to graduate with a bachelor’s degree of their choosing and move into the next phase of life. To my fellow college graduates – Congratulations! We have worked so hard for this moment, and I truly hope that everyone gets to enjoy the excitement that comes with being able to celebrate with friends and family before, during, and after the ceremony. It is because of our past experiences that this monumental event is so much sweeter. If we can survive a global pandemic at the age of 18, then we are more than prepared to face the world as an adult. The world is at our fingertips – let’s start reaching for it.
Lastly, the Word of the Year has yet to be announced for 2024, but I would like to cast an early vote. On behalf of the 2024 college graduates and myself, the recommended Word for the Year 2024 is THRIVING.
