Our Flawless Fellow, Maureen Mahoney, has been with the Flawless Foundation for over two years now and recently graduated from the University of Michigan with a degree in Public Policy. She plans to pursue a career in criminal justice and mental health care reform. Her last few months as a college senior were turned upside down due to the Coronavirus pandemic, but that did not stop her from celebrating her commencement in a unique way. Keep reading to commemorate the Class of 2020 with us!
Congratulations to the Class of 2020! Whether you are graduating high school, college, or graduate school, it is a huge accomplishment that should not go unnoticed. Having been dubbed the “Corona Class of 2020,” it has been hard to celebrate our achievements in the traditional way. Millions of students are missing out on being able to walk across the stage, proudly collect their diploma in front of loved ones, and hear words of wisdom from inspiring commencement speakers.
As a 2020 graduate from the University of Michigan, I was unable to graduate in the Big House as each class before me was able to. My ten housemates and I had made the decision at the beginning of the pandemic to quarantine in our Ann Arbor house for the remainder of the school year to keep our families safe and healthy at home. We missed out on graduation parties and senior traditions, however, we made sure to make the most of our last few months together. Just like all other students, we found it hard to focus on online classes. We worked together to turn our front hall into a library, placing folding tables and chairs in order for us to finish out our college career strong. No longer having access to a gym, we transformed another room to a home workout studio filled with yoga mats, weights, and online workout classes. We recognized the importance of physical health to maintain our mental wellbeing during this difficult time. We even took group walks around town, with the dual benefits of exercise and being able to walk down Memory Lane of our college experience. We used this time to do things we may not have done without the quarantine imposed on us and became closer than ever. Now, there were certainly some challenges as well. I never got to say goodbye to many of the friends, classmates, and teachers that contributed to my college journey. I didn’t get that traditional “last class ever” feeling, where my fellow seniors and I would clap for our teachers and experience bittersweet feelings of excitement, relief, and sadness. I didn’t get that immense sense of community being able to sit alongside my 6,000 graduating classmates, many of whom I hadn’t met, but shared a deep connection with.
Students around the world held makeshift graduations, wrote their own commencement speeches, and congratulated each other. The roadblocks that the Class of 2020 hit in celebrating our accomplishments did not stop my housemates and me. Amazingly, our little ceremony in our front yard actually ended up in the spotlight in the New York Times. On the day of our scheduled graduation, we held a ceremony to commemorate this milestone. Our parents supported us from around the country, sending maize and blue balloons, decorations, and food. We began the day with a Zoom call with all of our families, thanking them for their endless support throughout our college careers. As one of my friend’s mother eloquently puts it in the article, it “provided that closure you need psychologically to move from one chapter to the next. It was so much more memorable and meaningful than if we had been there in person.” Luckily, despite the unpredictable Michigan weather, we were blessed with a beautiful sunny day, and next we began our ceremony outside. We turned our porch into the stage, decked out in our school colors and created rows of chairs for our 10-person audience. A few of us gave speeches, reminiscing on our four years together, expressing gratitude for the school and everyone that helped us along the way, and looking ahead to what our future holds. We created diplomas with old notebook paper, wrapped in maize and blue ribbon. We took turns presenting these diplomas to each other and ended the ceremony with superlatives for each girl. While this wasn’t the college graduation I could have ever thought I would experience, we made the most of the situation at hand. It gave us the closure that we needed, and we felt an even more intimate bond with each other.
As Flawless Valedictorian, I would like to impart some ideas from my speech with my fellow Class of 2020 graduates.
While I was writing this, I did not want to think about Corona. Granted, that was extremely hard to do. The past few months have been inundated with the loss of loved ones, loss of jobs, and trauma. This might make you feel guilty for mourning the loss of your graduation, however it’s important to acknowledge your feelings during these difficult times. It is necessary and okay to grieve the loss of your graduation, such an important milestone in your life. Graduation is called commencement because it is supposed to be a new beginning. We are supposed to get closure from this ceremony, turning the page onto the next chapter. As we look back on this chapter of our lives, the last four years, we need to acknowledge that the Coronavirus changed the last few months of your senior year, but it does not define who we are as graduates. We must take what we’ve gained from these experiences and carry on. We must pick each other up, celebrate the mountains we moved, and use what we’ve learned to be lights in this world. Coronavirus does not negate your achievements. Your high school, college, or graduate experience was so much more these last few months. You worked hard to get where you are and become the person you chose to be. My four years at the University of Michigan has shaped me into who I am; allowing me to discover my passion, find my best friends, create everlasting memories, and become a better person.
One of the biggest things I learned throughout college, especially during the Coronavirus pandemic, was gratitude. I am grateful to the University of Michigan for allowing me to become a Wolverine. I am grateful for the community I became a part of the first time I stepped onto campus, hearing the Go Blue’s and seeing the cheerful smiles from students and faculty. I am grateful to my parents who made this dream a reality and supported me emotionally and financially all along the way. I am grateful for my teachers and advisors, who taught me to look at the world in new ways. They taught me to question the injustices we face, to be open to other worldviews, to be the change I want to see in the world. I am grateful to my amazing best friends, who help me be the most flawless version of myself, who pick me up when I’m down, and who defined my college experience. I am grateful to my fellow American Foundation for Suicide Prevention Club members, who worked tirelessly everyday to spread the message that you are loved, your life is worth living, and you are not alone. I am grateful to my Flawless family, for teaching me the value of hard work, time management, self-care, and mental health. I urge you to take this time to reflect on yourself. What are you grateful for in these challenging times? How did your high school or college experience shape you? What will you take with you as you continue on to the next stage of your life?
We live in a time where information is constantly at our fingertips. If we don’ t know something, we can simply google it, text someone for the answer, or turn on the news. However, we now face a different kind of reality. We don’t know what the future holds. We don’t know how many lives this virus will take, when we will be able to safely hug our grandparents again, or when this public health crisis will be a worry of the past. You may not know what your freshman year of college will look like. Whether you’ll have in person classes, live in a dorm, or be able to go to the dining hall with newfound friends. You may not know what job you’ll have in a few months, or a few years. You may not know what city you’ll choose as your new home. I see this unknown as a blessing in disguise. We can only control what we can control. We need “the serenity to accept the things we can’t change, courage to change the things we can, and wisdom to know the difference.” So be courageous, confident, and wise as we enter into the great unknown. Open yourselves up to new people, places, experiences, and possibilities.
To the Class of 2020, I congratulate you once again. We did it, we made it. You, as your flawless self, have accomplished something great. You deserve this, and that is something no one can take away from you. #youareflawless
