I'm a teacher who cries at graduation.Maybe it's the student who's the first in the family to graduate high school, & the cheers are deafening.Maybe it's the student whose graduation falls on Eid & the family is dressed to the 9s for the feast afterward. Each student has a story. https://twitter.com/marychaostyle/status/1262715061170245639

The socially anxious student who gives a brilliant graduation speech,hands shaking & voice quavering.The LD student who speaks to the cheers of classmates. The students who lost parents or siblings. The students whose parents aren't there.The students of immigrants.They all walk.

They all shake the hand of their counselor, the principal, the Superintendent. They hold up their diplomas like gold medals.We file out for a final photo and they throw the carefully decorated caps in the air. They walk out into the sun or clouds or rain, bravely into the future.

Never mind if there's been a recession,war,heat wave or flood: high school graduates walk out into a future they can make their own.

Dear class of 2020: You have still made it. Hold your heads high. Throw your hat in the air. Walk out into the future and make it your own.