Graduation is such a special time. For students, it’s a moment to celebrate their hard work, look back on their accomplishments and think about their future. For their families, it is a time to show their pride and their affection for their child as they enter a new stage in their life. For teachers, it’s a bittersweet moment as they say goodbye to students they have taught and forged deep bonds with over the years. It’s an important moment for our community too, as we congratulate another group of students who are marking an important milestone on their journey toward adulthood.

Of course, this year is different. We won’t have the usual graduation ceremony in the packed auditorium, brimming with the excitement of our graduates and their proud families, friends, teachers and community members. We won’t have the big parties or school events celebrating our graduates and all they’ve accomplished. And regrettably, students won’t get to spend the last few months in school with their friends and teachers before they go on to their next adventure.

While social distancing measures are completely necessary to protect the most vulnerable members of our community, it’s still sad, and it’s not fair to the students, parents, and teachers who have worked so hard to get to this point. We’ll never really be able to replace what was lost, although we will try, with modified graduation ceremonies, small gatherings of fewer than ten people, videoconferencing parties, road signs, and congratulatory messages.

Luckily, this year’s graduating class is a group who knows how to adapt and respond to an unprecedented crisis with dignity, compassion and creativity. When schools ended classroom instruction in March, students, teachers, and parents quickly took the steps they needed to move to remote instruction. This meant using new technology, coming up with new lesson plans, figuring out how to make good on the school’s obligation to ensure their students had access to nutritious food, making sure they had the needed internet access, and so much more. It was a massive, fundamental change for our entire educational system, and it happened over a few short weeks in the middle of a pandemic.

With everything going on, it would have been understandable if teachers and students had decided to stick to the script and do the bare minimum to get through the final months of school. In the Gorham schools though, students and teachers alike found ways to go the extra mile.

In their first few weeks away from the classroom, Gorham High School students produced a public service announcement video called “Protect Nana,” which urged folks to adhere to social distancing guidelines to slow the spread of COVID-19. The video has been featured on NewsCenter and by the Maine Department of Education, and online versions on YouTube and Facebook have been viewed by thousands. I must say, as a “Nana,” I appreciated their message.

Gorham High School teachers and students also worked together to create and promote the #SeparatedButNotDivided campaign to raise funds for the Gorham Backpack program and the Gorham Food Pantry. Their efforts raised more than $10,000 to help feed the hungry in Gorham.

Congratulations to all of our graduating seniors. You have shown yourselves to be an impressive group of young adults, and I am confident that whatever you do next, you will excel at it. But for now, take a moment to celebrate in whatever way you can. You earned it.

If you ever need help or want to express your thoughts on an issue, please reach out to me.

Linda Sanborn is serving her first term in the Maine Senate, representing Senate District 30, which includes Gorham, part of Buxton, and part of Scarborough. She previously served four terms in the Maine House, and practiced family medicine in Gorham for 25 years. Senator Sanborn lives in Gorham with her husband, Jeff, a Gorham native. They have three adult sons and one granddaughter.

(207) 287-1515 | Linda.Sanborn@Legislature.Maine.gov