As my final year at OVS concludes, I can’t help but feel left out.
In previous years, before COVID-19, when each year would wrap up, seniors would have this sense of tribal unity. A brotherhood and sisterhood existed between those upperclassmen. It didn’t matter if they were intimate friends or had never interacted before — they formed a tight-knit group as they were graduating together.
When the pandemic hit the US, the class of 2020 seniors had to have a graduation online. This year, due to multiple quarantine periods and the release of a vaccine, an in-person graduation will be held at the OVS campus.
But a few students will be missing.
Because of travel restrictions to the US due to the pandemic, Chinese international students face lasting uncertainties in traveling back to their campuses.
According to the CDC, several presidential proclamations have suspended and limited entry into the United States. One of the restricted countries is China. Anyone who has been in China for the past 14 days cannot enter the US. This means that Chinese students need to travel to another country, stay there for 14 days and face its COVID-testing and rules, before they can go to the US and adhere to the rules and regulations according to the United States COVID protocols.
For Chinese international students, the travel ban is a dilemma. I for one haven’t been back on campus in over a year since I returned to my home in Beijing, China in March of 2020. Many aspects of the journey back can’t be predicted and there is no assurance or certainty regarding the matter.
It means we cannot make it back for the graduation, even only considering time.
Graduation is very important to me. Unlike trivial matters that will be forgotten tomorrow, I will remember the day I graduate. Every year, looking at the seniors leaving for colleges, going onto the stage of the amphitheater, I would wonder where I’d go and when I’d become one of them. It’s not just about the graduation itself, it’s about finally entering adulthood with recognition from the teachers and going through a ceremony that marks a conclusion of our youth. I am not the only one who won’t be able to walk the stage.
Senior Bob Chen will not be able to be there for the in-person graduation. And just like me, graduation is important to him.
“I’ve regarded this moment as a milestone in my life,” said Bob. “Oftentimes I imagine the picture of myself walking across the stage.”
On top of being a symbolic moment in every high schooler’s journey, it is also a time where the hours of studying, countless tests, numerous school contributions, and far more hard earned achievements will be recognized. For Bob, a graduation ceremony has a special place in his heart, and losing the chance to have a graduation is a massive blow.
“It has always been the time that I anxiously waited for in the past years,” said Bob. “Not attending such will definitely be one of my biggest regrets.”
I feel the same way. We’re missing out on one of the biggest events in our lives, and there isn’t much choice for us. Living in a time where a deadly life-threatening virus is going around, what can one expect? Although we hope for the best to come, the reality is that we’ll not experience our high school graduation, nor prom. We won’t get to say goodbyes to our beloved teachers and friends, express gratitude and love. We’ll be missing and will miss a lot.
Senior Amy Kweon has stayed home because of the potential danger of traveling. As an international student from South Korea, she doesn’t feel dejected about missing the graduation. Though she wishes she could graduate, what she misses more is her friends in the OVS community.
“I wish I could be there at graduation, but I’m not sad,” said Amy. “I’ll just miss seeing people there for the last time.”
Seniors graduate and leave for college. Just like what Amy said, a graduation doesn’t just have the purpose of self-ascension, but also the gain of the encouragement and good wishes the community has for us. Missing the graduation is bad, but missing the people at OVS is worse.
“I guess that’s just how life works—it will never be plain sailing at all times,” said Bob.
Indeed. Life isn’t a sea journey with no storm, or a flight without fluctuation—life is full of unknowns and anxiety. It takes courage to do well but also courage to just go on, especially at a time where a deadly virus is going around. I won’t see OVS tomorrow or be there for graduation, but I have blessings for the people there, and we’ll see each other again.
