2 minute read

2020: A Class Dismissed – Tim and Nick Burgess

April 25, 2020

Eagle Scouts Tim and Nick Burgess, seniors at Kennebunk High School, discuss the impact of the coronavirus on their last months of high school.

A photo of an empty classroom with overlayed text reading 2020: A class dismissed.

Born in the weeks and months after 9/11, and graduated in the year of a crippling pandemic, the Class of 2020 lived through some of the most profound change ever witnessed. These young adults missed out on cornerstone experiences that ease the transition from being a child to being an adult. We captured the stories of a class prematurely dismissed.

This video is part of the 2020: A Class Dismissed series. The Maine Monitor is speaking to seniors from as many Maine high schools as possible to tell the story of Maine’s Class of 2020 and how these soon-to-be graduates are dealing with the unexpected developments that come with a pandemic and a disrupted senior year. This video with Tim and Nick Burgess was recorded on March 27.

Tim and Nick were interviewed on March 27, 2020. On that day, these were the top news stories in Maine:

Maine has exhausted its stockpile of protective medical equipment. One of the state’s former healthcare preparedness experts says this should have never happened. (By Samantha Hogan of Pine Tree Watch)
Maine CDC confirms state’s first death attributed to COVID-19, as cases rise to 168 (By Patty Wight of Maine Public)
Lewiston mayor warns shelter-in-place order may be ‘inevitable’ (By Andrew Rice of the Sun Journal)
Eviction courts are closed, but Mainers are still losing housing (By Randy Billings of the Portland Press Herald)
‘This isn’t a joke’: Maine family diagnosed with coronavirus says last two weeks have been ‘miserable’ (By Samantha York of News Center Maine)
Portland nonprofit will eliminate 248 Maine jobs (By Peter Van Allen of Maine Biz)
Gov. Mills extends Maine income tax filing deadline to July 15 (By Scott Thistle of the Portland Press Herald)
South Portland issues stay-at-home order, other restrictions amid coronavirus pandemic (By Willis Ryder Arnold of Maine Public)
Augusta orders all nonessential businesses to close (By Keith Edwards of the Kennebec Journal)
Gov. Mills: Shops that only sell guns are ‘non-essential’ and must close (From WMTW)
Eric Brakey denounces $2.2 trillion relief bill as a ‘rotten deal for the American people’ (By Steve Collins of the Sun Journal)
Massachusetts man says on radio he’s positive for coronavirus, quarantined in Skowhegan (By Scott Monroe of the Kennebec Journal)

To view more of the day’s headlines, browse our collection of the state’s best coronavirus coverage.

Check out our interactive data dashboard to explore trends in Maine’s COVID-19 cases by county, age, sex of the afflicted individuals and more in charts updated daily with data from Maine’s CDC.

Bailey Beltramo

Bailey Beltramo is an emerging photographer who grew up in Canterbury, New Hampshire. He graduated with a degree in communications from Norwich University in 2017, and continued his education through the Professional Intensive program at the Rocky Mountain School of Photography. Both his photo and film work are pursued through a documentary approach and focus on capturing human experience in outdoor environments. His published work has spanned a range of settings from life on a dude ranch in Wyoming to the lessons of a non-profit, nature-based school in New Hampshire.