‘We Are Writing Our Future’: High School Seniors On What It Means To Graduate Right Now

By Katherine Nagasawa, Paula Friedrich
We The Graduates Video Thumb
Katherine Nagasawa, Paula Friedrich / WBEZ
We The Graduates Video Thumb
Katherine Nagasawa, Paula Friedrich / WBEZ

‘We Are Writing Our Future’: High School Seniors On What It Means To Graduate Right Now

By Katherine Nagasawa, Paula Friedrich
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Surreal. Momentous. Difficult.

Those are the words 2020 graduates chose to describe finishing high school amid a pandemic, historic protests and upheaval.

We asked nine Chicago-area high school seniors in the video below to reflect on what it means to graduate right now — and what they hope the future holds.

Can’t see the video? Click here. 

Featured students: Miracle Burres (Gary Comer College Prep), Olivia Dixon (Von Steuben High School), Victor Luis Garcia (The Chicago High School for the Arts), Gabe Levi (Whitney Young Magnet High School), Sonam Rikha (Walter Payton College Prep), Jared Saef (Francis W. Parker), Carolina Solis (The Chicago High School for the Arts), Eliana Stern (Niles North High School) and Savannah Taffe (Southland Collage Prep).

Protest footage courtesy of Mandela Hudson and Justine Tobiasz.

Katherine Nagasawa is WBEZ’s audience engagement producer. You can follow her on Twitter at @knagasawa.

Paula Friedrich is WBEZ’s interactive producer. You can follower her on Twitter at @pauliebe.