High school graduating students in Manitoba are feeling the effects of physical distancing, due to safety measures taken to decrease the risk of spread of COVID-19.
With their school year being cut short, two students from Kelvin High School in Winnipeg, MacKinley Hall and Coco Diamond Burchuk, decided to put their time at home to good use, to help fellow students feel connected.
“It started off as my friend and I talking about our Ultimate Nationals getting cancelled and all these things,” Hall said.
“It’s hard to see people who you’ve spent the last 13 years with, you’ve seen every single day for the last 13 years, and you don’t even get to kind of finish it off together.”
Hall and Burchuk started brainstorming ideas, and noticed other graduating classes around North America had started to make video messages for their class.
“We originally wrote the script,” Hall said. “I sent something just on an Instagram story saying ‘Hey all Kelvin graduating students, if you want to be part of senior video just let me know’.”
The project took two weeks to complete, with upwards of 70 people in the graduating class answering the call.
In the video, students recall their life from when they were born till now, noting worldwide moments that have changed the course of history.
Some moments mentioned include the attacks on the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City in 2001, the Humboldt Broncos bus crash in 2018, and now, graduating during a global pandemic.
“Everything that we experienced, it just builds on everything we’ve been through and how we’re going to attack the world,” Hall said.
The class is scheduled to walk the stage in June to receive their diplomas. At this time it’s unknown if the date will be moved. Kelvin High School administration telling students there will be some sort of celebration held, but when that will happen is still up in the air.
“It’s awesome that something like a video can bring people together,” Hall said.
You can watch the video here.