Due to the recent Covid-19 virus, high school and college seniors have no way of receiving their diplomas. With no way to possibly meet up for graduation, seniors are turning to alternative methods for receiving them.

Online school has continued with the intent that the seniors will be able to graduate and not be held back a year. People fear that because of online school, the class of 2020 will not be as prepared for their first steps into college.

Different states are handling the situation differently. Some are requiring seniors to take summer classes to officially achieve their diplomas, while most states are continuing online school and giving the seniors their diplomas at their normal times.

In states such as Virginia, whose school year is officially over, the governor has required extra credits for seniors planning to graduate. States such as New Mexico do not require extra credits to graduate but allow credits from college entrance exams and other fine arts activities to count towards their graduation.

In Pennsylvania, our online school has continued though our seniors at Central Catholic have not yet officially graduated. Each senior was individually delivered a graduation care package by teachers at Central Catholic.

Most college graduations have resorted to zoom graduations. Many students have felt that these types of graduations do not do justice to all the hard work and time they have put in at school.

A friend of my brother, who had just graduated from the University of Pittsburgh, said that he really wanted to justify his hard work by walking on the stage and taking the diploma. He said it would at least compensate a little bit for all the tough times and hard work that he had to do at Pitt.

He was a history major and frequently had to write analytical papers on events in history. The coronavirus will definitely give food for thought for many analytical history papers in the future.