Gabe Abdellatif

With virtual commencement on the horizon, guest writer Gabe Abdellatif PO ’21 writes to the class of 2021 to mourn their lost experiences and celebrate their resiliency in making it through a tough last year of college. (Courtesy: Pomona College) On the morning of March 11, 2020, I knew what was in store for the rest of my semester. We all did. The Claremont Colleges would be the next in a long line of academic institutions to send students home in light of the rapidly spreading novel Coronavirus.

This piece is part of “Dear Adult Leaders: #ListenToYouth,” a four-week series produced in collaboration with America’s Promise Alliance to elevate student voices in the national conversation as schools and districts navigate how to educate our country’s youth in a global pandemic. In this series, students write open letters to adult leaders and policymakers about their experiences and how, from their perspectives, the American education system should adapt.