In the last days of her Mizzou career, senior Lilly Size is feeling nostalgic and excited but not nervous— now that her graduation dress has arrived.
“It took three weeks to come in. So that was a little nerve-wracking,” Size said. “But I have it. I'm ready. I'm going to steam it, I’m good to go.”
But even those nerves were nothing compared to the lead-up to her last graduation, in spring 2020. Then, she was a senior at Marquette High School in Chesterfield. Size said in those final few weeks, it didn’t feel like much of a senior year.
“It was kind of just every day that COVID was going on, I was thinking to myself, ‘Oh, this day would have been prom, or this day would have been, like the Senior Olympics at my high school.’ And it was just this major feeling of missing out.”
For students who graduated from high school that spring, the early days of the pandemic meant the milestones of those final days of school didn’t happen the way they’d expected.
In some cases, the “last” club meetings and cafeteria lunches and high-fives with favorite teachers happened without fanfare – without anyone realizing it would be the last.
Some events were replaced with “virtual” approximations. Others never happened at all. Four years later, members of that year’s senior class are finally experiencing a commencement ceremony, graduating from college.
Carrson McDaniel is now a graduating senior at Webster University. He recalls spring break of his senior year at Lindbergh High School in south St. Louis County — and a message the school sent out asking the students how comfortable they felt learning from home.
“And that's kind of when I knew, ‘OK, I think we're going to have to go online,’” McDaniel said.
From there, a familiar story for many who were, or had, students at that time: What was supposed to be a couple of weeks of online learning became the rest of the school year, and then some.
When McDaniel’s graduation was finally scheduled for the middle of that summer, it was a drive-in event.
“My high school graduation was in a mall parking lot,” McDaniel said.
Starting college in fall 2020 meant classes, as well as events like club meetings and dorm orientation, also went online.
Size said she met most of her college friends for the first time from her dorm room.
“There weren't big events for freshmen to go to,” she said. “We did get sorority rush, but that was on Zoom,” she said.
But both McDaniel and Size say, once they could burst out of those six-foot bubbles, they immersed themselves in college life.
“It almost forced us,” said Size. “We still kind of have to make it somewhat a normal experience.”
McDaniel joined student media and an improv club.
“It's just a good skill, like to think on your feet and make quick decisions. I think that's definitely a lesson that I've learned in the past four years," he said. "Things can change very quickly. And it's important to kind of cherish the moment and cherish the things closest to you, and really adapt quickly."
A few weeks ago, Size and her sorority sisters finally threw themselves a prom — long gowns and everything.
“I think it's going to be a really good memory to look back on and be like, I did get a prom. But even though it's not a high school prom, it's OK,” she said.
The Class of 2024 is used to pivoting — adjusting plans and doing things a little differently.
McDaniel says he will bring that resilience with him into the real world. Even days before his graduation, he says he’s thinking of fellow graduates at schools around the country whose ceremonies still won’t look as anticipated, with ongoing campus protests over the Israel-Hamas war leading to adjustments and cancellations.
“That's been on my mind lately, I saw a lot of people saying, like, ‘my high school graduation got canceled because of COVID, and now it's getting canceled again,’” he said. “It was just kind of running through my head. What would that look like? Or, how would I feel? Just kind of maybe preparing myself, a little bit.”
But looking forward to graduation this weekend — which so far is on track as scheduled — he also said it will be nice to have things a little closer to how he had always pictured.
“The people that are there to support me will not be behind a wall of cars. They will be in the room with me, and I will hear them cheer,” he said. “I think that will be kind of the Kodak moment.”
It’s the end of a strange but special journey, Size agreed, that might have started differently than expected but ended up exactly where it should.
“We're here. Everyone's in a good mood,” she said. “It's like everything finally worked out. Like we kind of had this rough go with COVID and like, we finally got what we deserved.”
And as her friends prepare to scatter away from campus and each other, she says she’s not nervous about that, either — after all, these are friendships that began with social distancing.
“I’m realizing how grateful I am to end this time with some of my best friends,” said Size. “And knowing that after graduation, we’ll still be in touch.”
