SWAMPSCOTT — With smiles on their faces, the 27 members of the choir sang the Beatles “I Will:”
“Love you forever and forever,” they sang.
Except it wasn’t what one might expect from the chorus singing at the Swampscott High School 2020 commencement ceremony. They weren’t gowned, or even standing next to each other, but rather were broadcast on the internet and on TV remotely, with each singer taking up a small square of the screen while they honored the graduating class virtually.
The virtual singing performance and commencement ceremony wasn’t the only thing the COVID-19 pandemic drastically altered for Swampscott’s graduating seniors this past weekend.
On Saturday, a senior parade took place — with students flying blue and white balloons, holding signs, and waving as they traveled around town Saturday morning, getting cheered by residents on porches, with banners reading “Congratulations, Class of 2020.”
But the whole parade, led by the local police, was done with vehicles, lest the students walk together and break the rules of “social distancing.”
And, on Sunday, the commencement ceremony took place, with residents tuning in to watch the event virtually. There was still a strong sense of “Big Blue” pride.
“To the graduates of 2020, I know we’re not sitting in the scorched gymnasium, as many of the previous classes were,” said class valedictorian Leonie Flacke. “But I know you’re still reflecting back.”
Senior prom, a final season of sports, and the typical graduation ceremonies were scrapped due to the risk of spreading the coronavirus. But there were plenty of good times the class had over the previous four years.
“High School was glamorous,” Flacke said. “We grew to an age we could drive around late at night and grab food with friends, and at times test our parents’ patience.”
Flacke asked her fellow graduates to recognize the luck and privilege of having grown up and gone to school in Swampscott, and to reflect on that before getting “immersed in our new freedom” of adulthood.
Flacke also said high school brought stresses and mistakes for many students, but that this wasn’t necessarily a negative thing — they had the “freedom” to make mistakes and learn. Future students, Flacke said, will learn about the 2020 school year in history books.
“I know this isn’t the typical type of graduation speech, but I thought it was true to myself, and I would not stand up here and tell you it was perfect,” she said. “It was not.”
“It is time for everyone to create a future in which everyone can share the luck with which we have been so privileged,” Flacke said.
Principal Dennis Kohut also praised the graduating seniors, who will go on to take their ranks in society as leaders, laborers, soldiers, and scholars. Above all, the graduates will persevere.
“You will persevere through concussions, Crohn’s disease, family loss, divorce, a tornado,” Kohut said. “What an honor it has been educating you, and what a blast.”
