Sasha Valenzuela was sitting comfortably on her living room couch on a recent morning, enjoying an exhilarating game of Mario Kart and eating a bowl of cereal, when the doorbell rang.
To her surprise, on the other side of the heavy wooden door, stood a couple of people she hadn’t seen in months: her former Head of School Craig Floyd and OVS President/CEO Michael J. Hall-Mounsey.
And they had come bearing gifts in the form of her high school diploma.
Extending her right arm forward to shake hands and clasping the diploma with her left hand, Sasha was officially finished with high school, exactly 117 days after virtually graduating from the Upper Campus of Ojai Valley School.
“I wasn’t mad that I didn’t get it on graduation,” Sasha said, “but it felt really good to finally get it.”
Like millions of high school students across the country, those in the Class of 2020 at Ojai Valley School were prevented from receiving their diplomas last spring as the COVID-19 pandemic forced schools to shut down their campuses and switch to online learning.
The OVS seniors were celebrated with a virtual graduation ceremony on May 29, which featured several pre-recorded speeches from students and highlighted each of the senior’s talents and accomplishments. But they never got the opportunity to walk across the stage at the Carl S. Cooper Amphitheater and grasp their graduation diplomas.
In late September, Mr. Floyd and Mr. Hall-Mounsey set out to remedy that, going house-to-house to hand-deliver diplomas to recently graduated students.
“I just didn’t want to put them in the mail and send them off to students,” said Mr. Floyd, adding that six of the 23 diplomas have been delivered thus far. “It is my hope that I will be able to deliver all diplomas in person over the course of this school year.”
The Class of 2020 has one of the most incredible stories to tell.
Navigating through high school alone is a difficult task, but this class had to find its way through the Thomas Fire, which burned down half the Upper Campus in December, 2017, as well as this pandemic, which is still gripping the world.
Not only did members of this class get through these disasters, they conquered them and came out on top.
Although everyone has had their share of sadness and “why me” moments, the members of the Class of 2020 decided not only to focus on the ending, because the ending does not define their remarkable journey. These students have no shortage of accompaniments and memories. They made lifelong friends and will continue to bring these qualities of perseverance, kindness and integrity into their adult lives, and into the world.
Take just-graduated senior Olivia Brown for example.
She attended OVS for nine years, and was extremely invested in the school, from academics to athletics to outdoor education to performing arts.
Olivia said she was devastated that she could not graduate the traditional way, and crushed that she could not stand with her friends on the stage.
“It was hard to not graduate alongside my best friends, and I can honestly say that [is true for] the majority of those people,” Olivia said with a melancholy tone. “[But] we are a very resilient class, and I believe we can get through anything.”
Olivia is one of the half dozen 2020 graduates lucky enough to have received her diploma, getting a visit from Mr. Floyd and Mr. Hall-Mounsey on Sept. 23. She also was handed a commemorative silver bowl in recognition of earning the Robert G. Cooper award, which goes to the student who demonstrated most growth his or her senior year.
Receiving her diploma, Olivia said she felt a sense of accomplishment and long needed closure.
“For me the diploma lets me move forward,” she said. “I feel like I’m really becoming an adult.”
OVS graduate Tyler Davis was another diploma recipient, stepping outside of his home, surrounded by the citrus orchards of his family’s ranch, to claim his long-awaited reward.
“Seeing Mr. Floyd and Mr. Hall-Mounsey was really nice, and I was very appreciative of their kindness,” Tyler said.
Tyler attended OVS for nine years and had been looking forward to the satisfaction of walking across the sacred OVS bridge on the graduation stage since his brother graduated in 2013.
Admitted to his top choice Oregon State University, he deferred admission for the first quarter, but plans on starting at OSU in January. In the meantime, he is studying at Ventura College and working part time.
Receiving a diploma is a physical documentation of success and the completion of high school, but it is also extremely gratifying and can be regarded and thought of in many different ways.
“The diploma,” Tyler said, “signifies my struggles and my accomplishments.”
While COVID restrictions have made it impossible to get the Class of 2020 together for a collective celebration, it remains a priority for Mr. Floyd and the OVS community to re-assemble the class sometime in the future to properly acknowledge their accomplishments.
In the meantime, the hope is to get diplomas into the hands of as many recent graduates as possible, an effort that will take time since many students have already started college and many international students have returned to their homes overseas. Still, OVS is determined to do the best it can to give each student meaningful recognition.
Meaningful is exactly what it felt like to Sasha Valenzuela when Mr. Floyd and Mr. Hall-Mounsey showed up at her doorstep last month.
“On graduation day I didn’t feel different, but when I received my diploma it felt official,” said Sasha, a first-year student at Cal State Fullerton who is studying virtually from home for now. “It felt like I graduated high school.”