Graduation 2020

2020 will be remembered as the year of the virtual commencement. Powerhouse celebrities, including Barack and Michelle Obama, will be lending their hands and voices to elevate and acknowledge this year’s graduates by speaking on television, Facebook, YouTube and other live-streamed events. This year’s graduates spent most of their last semester in Zoom classrooms, and had trips, proms, and so many other special senior experiences, including graduation, erased from their schedules. Sadly, 2020 graduates will not be walking across the stage to receive their diplomas.

My oldest graduated from George Washington University in May, 2009, during the H1N1 outbreak. Everyone who came into the auditorium was given a small bottle of hand sanitizer and the gentleman who was giving out diplomas told us that he had been instructed to not shake the hands of each graduate as he gave them their diploma. An instruction he promptly disregarded as he began the process.

I’ve been to my share of graduations as a mother of three kids, and countless other ceremonies as a sister, aunt, and friend. I can’t remember a single speech or speaker. But I do remember the milestones along the way. The jobs each of my kids held during high school, the family vacations we took, the summer camps they attended, the teams they were on, the concerts I drove them to, the ridiculous stories and events, and the awesome friends made along the way.

I think of t shirt quilts as a kind of scrapbook. T shirts telling a story of a period of time in someone’s life. It’s a way to honor the achievements and accomplishments of someone you love.

When I look at this quilt I see a high school career complete with summer jobs, volunteer service, summer camps, family vacations, sports teams, a foreign exchange trip to Brazil, and a backpacking trip to England and Ireland.

Here is another story of a high school life well lived. Concerts, jobs, vacations, community activism, theater participation and teaching a course, “The Cultural Significance of the Zombie Movie,” nicknamed “Honors Zombie,” to fellow students one trimester.

The story this quilt tells is also of community activism, volunteer service, sports, friendship, trips, the theater, and summer writing workshops.

This student lettered in two sports, and honored her brother’s football accomplishments and her family.

This student played in three sports while being an active and engaged student.

This quilt tells a story of four years of college lacrosse; wins, losses, tears and triumphs and a senior year trip to the NCAA Division 2 Conference Championship Tournament.

This quilt tells the story of four years of college cheer leading at James Madison University. She bleeds purple!

If you know of a graduate whose accomplishments you want to acknowledge and honor, there’s no better way than by giving them a t shirt quilt.