ADOM :: God speed, class of 2021

By Ana Rodriguez Soto - The Archdiocese of Miami

Photographer: Via Facebook

Msgr. Edward Pace High School's class of 2021 throw their caps into the air after their graduation ceremony, held May 28, 2021 on the school's new football field.

MIAMI | The phrase “new normal” has certainly applied to the 2020-21 school year.

Traditional, in-person school, canceled abruptly last March by the pandemic, turned into hybrid classrooms from October to June, with many students returning to schools while others continued learning from home. Mask-wearing, hand-sanitizing and daily wellness checks became the norm at all archdiocesan schools. iPads, laptops, Zoom and other virtual technologies joined smartboards and desks as classroom fixtures — not to mention plexiglass dividers between desks and in cafeterias.

Through it all, the class of 2020-21 persevered, trying to make their last year of high school as normal as possible. This is a class, remember, that has spent nearly two out of their four years of high school dealing with a pandemic.

Many sports continued, and a number of high schools won state championships: Christopher Columbus and Cardinal Gibbons in wrestling, Gibbons in girls soccer, Belen Jesuit in boys soccer, St. Thomas Aquinas in girls basketball, St. Brendan and Immaculata-La Salle in cheerleading, Belen and Columbus in cross country, Gibbons and St. Thomas in football. As vaccines kicked in and the pandemic eased in the spring, proms and graduations returned, though socially distanced or even outdoors.

Next year, everyone hopes, the “new normal” will fade and teachers won’t have to navigate hybrid classrooms. Back to school will mean just that.

In this year’s graduation edition, we wanted to pay tribute not just to the graduates — the valedictorians and salutatorians, the Archbishop’s Leadership Award winners, the Silver Knights and the sports champions — but also to the teachers, whose dedication — even devotion — made the “new normal” possible for their students. Teachers who — heroically, yes — adapted and adopted unfamiliar technologies to make hybrid instruction work. You can read those stories here and here.

As we praise and bid goodbye to the class of 2021, we pray the lessons learned during these difficult months will fortify them as they embark on their journey to adulthood. You certainly learned more than you bargained for. God speed!

Click here for statistics on the class of 2021.