The Harwood Union Class of 2022 graduates this weekend with an in-person ceremony after a lively spirit week and well-attended prom.
These seniors, like all of us, have been living with the COVID-19 pandemic since March of 2020. They were educated in a pandemic for their sophomore, junior and senior years.
First, they were sent home to learn remotely for the duration of that first school year. While school district administrators and leaders moved at lightning speed to figure out remote learning protocols, technology and a plan to distribute free school lunches to every child in the school district, students were sent home with virtually no warning.
In the fall of 2020 they encountered a hybrid learning protocol that had them remote with their cohort for several days a week and then live with that same cohort several days a week with everyone remote on Wednesdays. They ate at their desks and participation in sports, theater, band, and chorus were limited or prohibited until spring sports returned.
When they returned to school in August 2021most students and staff were vaccinated and they were in school five days a week, masked but with far greater ability to participate in sports and extracurricular activities. And they embraced those new/old pastimes with enthusiasm!
We salute that enthusiasm and we honor the hard work that these students have put into these last few years of learning. It has not been easy for any of us. These students rose to the challenges of these last three years with grace and they have demonstrated strength and courage and have persevered to get to that graduation stage. They’ve shone their mettle.
Once these students leave Harwood, they’re going on to higher education, vocational education, gap years, the military, the workforce and more. They’re leaving Harwood with a resiliency that will serve them well in their post-high school endeavors.
We’re proud of them and proud of the school community and wider communities that have supported them and helped them get this far.
Congratulations Class of 2022.
