Written by Charlotte Taylor, Aspengrove School Alumni
As a previous Aspengrove student who graduated during the most “unprecedented” year in Aspengrove’s history, I cannot say that my experience closely reflects that of most graduates. That being said, a good portion of my Grade 12 year was still largely unaffected by COVID-19, so I hope I can still be of some help to anyone feeling overwhelmed by the prospect of graduation.
Although the process of planning your first year as a high school graduate can seem daunting, you are, as an Aspengrove student, not lacking support. Ms. Nahrgang, a wonderfully kind and passionate educator, will help you explore the many possible options available to you.
No matter your plans for your first-year post-grad, I would highly recommend implementing a system for organizing your various deadlines, application forms, and other important documents. Having some kind of system in place to help organize the many moving parts of post-grad planning will save both you and Ms. Nahrgang many headaches.
I was very glad that I thought ahead and marked important deadlines for university and scholarship applications in my calendar well in advance. I also implemented a simple system of grouping and clearly labeling my Google Drive folders — below, I’ve included some visuals demonstrating this system.
Of course, specific systems and labels will vary depending on your personal preference and post-grad plans accordingly. For you, planning ahead might include applying for jobs, internships, or volunteer opportunities, setting travel plans, or a variety of other possible options. However, no matter your specific circumstances, I suggest finding a simple system that you know will be manageable for your future self (who will already be sufficiently preoccupied with final exams). You will also experience the added benefit of being able to easily recycle various snippets from lengthy essay questions for at least a few different applications.
As previously stated, my cohort’s experience of high school graduation was highly irregular. Nonetheless, some core components of our Aspengrove graduation experience remained. Your graduation events are divided into the ceremony and dinner, occurring on separate days. Your class valedictorian will address the graduating class on the day of the ceremony, and a couple of other students will be asked to thank the graduating class’ teachers and parents at the dinner. If you aren’t fond of writing or giving speeches, you can still be involved in your graduation celebrations. For example, you could volunteer to create and edit a short video to commemorate your class’ graduation.
Although each individual’s experience of high school graduation varies, I hope that yours will be a positive one. The purpose of these events is to celebrate you and your classmates’ accomplishments. And, depending on your future plans, these may be the last times that you can all gather as a group. You have many exciting adventures ahead of you, but try not to let these events pass without first taking a moment to have fun with your friends and family.