They were born in the weeks and months after 9/11 and are graduating in the year of a crippling pandemic. Maine’s high school seniors in the Class of 2020 have lived through some of the most profound change our country has ever witnessed.
With Maine high school cancelling in-class lessons for the remainder of the 2019-2020 school year, beginning in March, these young adults missed out on cornerstone experiences that ease the transition from being a child to being an adult.
No prom. No senior sports season. No yearbook signatures. No final play or performance. No awards dinner. No senior prank. No senior ditch day.
For so many, no final farewell.
With so much focus on the death, despair and financial pain that’s accompanied the spread of the coronavirus, we felt it was important to capture the stories of a senior class that has been prematurely dismissed. And, we did just that between March and June of 2020.
We spoke to seniors from as many Maine high schools as possible to tell the story of Maine’s Class of 2020 and how these students dealt with the unexpected developments that come with a global pandemic and a disrupted senior year.
In all, we spoke to 29 graduating high school seniors from 25 high schools.
Students participating in this series represented schools and communities from around the state: from the southernmost to the northernmost to the coast of Maine and the islands.
