Photo courtesy of the St. Ambrose University Communications and Marketing Department.
March 2020: future SAU students are sent home from high school due to an emerging nationwide pandemic. They walk to their car with their friends, laughing, and feeling hopeful they’ll be back to normal in two weeks.
April 2020: they learn via their district phone tree that the rest of their senior year has been canceled. No senior prom, no senior night for spring sports, and no graduation ceremony. They are devastated that everything they had to look forward to was stolen by COVID-19 in the blink of an eye.
“I never even got to say goodbye to my friends,” says SAU senior Lexi Huntley.
August 2020: they get to move into college! Exciting, right? But this year they’re limited to just two guests to help them, they’re required to wear masks, the elevators suddenly seem terrifyingly unsanitary, and they won’t even get to attend their new classes in person.
This is not what they expected. Truly, nothing has been how they expected. This is the story of the St. Ambrose Class of 2024. This is the story of the COVID class.
Traditionally, college seniors are bogged down and burnt out by the time April rolls around. There are final projects to complete, exams to prepare for, and post-graduation plans to figure out. The COVID class says they’ve been through worse and this stressful season of deciding what’s next is really nothing to panic about.
“I’m excited to have the opportunity to do what I love full time,” says senior criminal justice major Deviann Titus-Porter (TP) who plans to continue his job with the Davenport School District as a paraeducator. “I just looked into what my passions are, which is helping kids out, inspiring, and mentoring.”
Senior multimedia journalism major Winston Hutson is still in the process of finalizing a post-graduation job but says, “It’s not really scary. I know I’ll figure it out one way or another, I’ll be good.”
Hutson says he’s most looking forward to the freedom that comes with graduating. “You just go to work and then have your own life. Whatever I want to accomplish and whatever hobbies I want to pick up, I feel like I’ll actually have time for.”
Of course it’s not all been easy for these seniors, as senior computer science major Jordan Williams points out that the job application process these days is like putting your name into a hat and hoping it gets drawn. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the current unemployment rate is 3.8 percent, and everyone is vying for a job.
“Unless you meet every criteria that their automated system is programmed to search for, it might just skip over you…It’s not an actual person reviewing your resume anymore so it’s hard to even get an interview in the first place.”
However, Williams still shares a positive outlook on his future. Williams says, “I have a very strong work ethic and am really passionate about what I do. I’m looking forward to being able to say, ‘I did this. I got through it.’ and take pride in the progress I’ve made.”
The St. Ambrose Class of 2024 will celebrate with friends and family on May 18, 2024 with a ceremony held at the Vibrant Arena at The MARK at 1:00 PM. There is no ticket required to attend and parking is available at a ramp across the street.
Hannah Knowles is a staff writer for The Buzz.
