ANDERSON — As they waited to assemble and form lines to march onto the football field on a cloudless day at Anderson High School, several members of the Class of 2022 were mindful of the hardships they went through in order to don their red robes for graduation.
“These last two years, I’ve been on virtual school,” Victoria Bratjan said. “I’m very proud of myself and everybody else that has done this because there were a lot of virtual students that had to teach themselves, and they still pushed their way through to graduate today.”
That sense of pride and accomplishment was a theme of the day as Anderson celebrated a total of more than 300 graduates in two separate ceremonies at Collier Field.
Woven throughout several speeches during the day were encouragements for the graduates to forge paths that would make their families, their community — and themselves — proud.
“This is one of the hallmarks of the transition from childhood to adolescence to adulthood,” Anderson Superintendent Joe Cronk said. “This is the kickoff. From here they go to the workforce, they go to college, they go to the military. This is our celebration of them, and it’s their celebration of coming of age.”
The graduates were applauded by administrators for persevering through two challenging years of learning virtually due to disruptions related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I think they understand that they’ve acquired some tools that are going to help them be flexible,” said Anderson High School Principal Scott Shimer. “There will be challenges that come about that they can look back and say, ‘Hey, I got through this or that, so I can get through this.’
“It was definitely a problem for them when they had to go through it, but I think it’s given them tools so they’ll be successful in the long run.”
The chaotic years of upended learning and often-disjointed lesson plans carry with them a silver lining, however, according to Cronk.
“The first rule of a plan is nothing goes according to the plan,” he said. “For these students’ education, nothing went according to plan. But that allowed them to be able to pivot, to adapt, to change and overcome. I think those are the big lessons they’ve learned, along with the academic lessons, in the last four years.”
Sydney Bowers, who will attend Ivy Tech this fall, said the uncertainties of the past two years have made earning a diploma especially gratifying.
“I’m very proud of me and my fellow classmates for accomplishing all that we’ve accomplished,” she said. “I’ve learned (that) you never know what’s going to come, and to always be thankful for the next day.”
Alfredo Contreras, who plans to work during the summer before beginning business studies at Ball State University, said Saturday’s ceremonies would likely be the last time he sees several friends before they go their separate ways.
“We always look forward to this day and now this day is finally here,” he said. “It means a lot. Even though we basically missed like two years of school, it’s sad that it’s coming to an end.”
This article appeared in The Herald Bulletin on June 5, 2022.