High school graduation corona style

The school year has ended and for Teresa this happened to be her senior year in high school. A year that has by far not been one of the easiest ones in her life but where she still managed to refuse to give in and give up. And here she is. Graduating summa cum laude (special achievement that signifies being among the ones with the highest grades in the school) and getting to wear a purple cord around her neck.

Usually there would have been prom and parties and a large outdoor graduation ceremony. Well..... not this year of the cursed 2020. Instead she picked up her gown and cap quite a few weeks ago and got assigned a time slot, where she (and the rest of us) could meet up at the high school and she could be filmed walking the stage to get her pretend diploma (it had the benefit that they actually asked how to pronounce her name so for the first time in history the Frikke-Schmidt name was pronounced somewhat correctly in an official setting in the US😏)

The school had also provided all seniors with a sign to put in the front yard:

After all that, she went back home, took off the cap and gown and went straight back to homework and online classes for a few more weeks.

Yesterday was officially the last day and the school had arranged for a car parade with a route around the school blocked by the police. We had decorated my car accordingly:

And off we went. Of course our tiny Kia Soul got to go behind a gigantic pickup truck where a lucky graduate had a brother with a mullet who could hang out with her in the back of the truck. Very - ehm - Pennsylvania.....

Later in the evening there was the video recorded graduation ceremony with the teachers performing a piece of classical music, the high school chamber choir signing, speeches from the principal and the valedictorians (if which the female one seriously made one of the best speeches I have heard in a long time about how this class of 2020 will go out and rebuild a world in shambles), followed by all the stage crossings. And I have to admit that we fast-forwarded through this until we got to Teresa:

And now I guess she is officially done with high school - or at least the American one. By the end of July she will go back to Denmark to repeat her senior year in a Danish high school. She will get some of the freedom the US teenagers lack so desperately, and there will be family and friends receiving her with open arms. And she will have a little more time to figure out where she wants to go in life. I will miss her terribly, but honestly watching your child fold out their wings and fly away confidently and happily is how it should be (and we have made sure to book her a return ticket so we will se her again this Christmas).