HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — High school graduates across the Tampa Bay Area are preparing for the next chapter in their lives. But we can’t forget how the Class of 2023 was getting going in their high school careers when the pandemic started.
It was a high school experience, unlike many others.
“Yes, ma’am, the COVID year,” said Bloomingdale High School graduate Isabella Larson.
Affectionately known as the “COVID year,” the Class of 2023 were just freshmen in the Spring of 2020 at the beginning of the pandemic.
Larson remembers it well.
“Right in our freshmen year, COVID canceled the rest of the year, so we did online learning, which I think all the staff and teachers adapted really well too,” said Larson. “We didn’t really miss a beat. We came back sophomore year, and although some activities were limited, they really kept up the school spirit, which was nice.”
At one point or another, these students dealt with virtual learning, precautions like masking and social distancing, isolating when sick, and felt the overall impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on their education.
Despite those challenges, they bonded together through the shared experience.
“We understood that we were going to miss out on certain things, but we really focused on kind of keeping the school spirit, and we sort of adapted and had different ways of doing things,” said Bloomingdale High graduate Simeon Rate.
Dr. Marcos Rodriguez, principal of Bloomingdale High School, said students have been through so much in the last four years, so to shake their hands as they walked the stage at graduation is an understatement of their pride.
“What really sets this class aside and makes them extremely special is how they’ve persevered through those challenges,” said Rodriguez. “We went through five different schedules. Some stayed home; some came to school; some didn’t see their family members for a very long time.”
Students in this graduating class are taking what they’ve learned in these last four years to put forward and conquer whatever comes next.
“Especially given COVID happened and everything, I think that we were able to come back even stronger after the pandemic and really be able to like to push for what we wanted and be self-motivated and self-driven, so I don’t think I would change anything,” said Bloomingdale High salutatorian Alexa Brown.
