Five years after their senior year was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic, Masters’ Class of 2020 finally received the graduation celebration they were promised. On May 17, during their first official reunion weekend, alumni from the Class of 2020 returned to campus for a belated graduation ceremony held on Graduation Terrace from 3-4:30 p.m.
Back in 2020, the pandemic halted all in-person events, including the senior class’s graduation ceremony. Instead of gathering on the terrace in caps and gowns, seniors slowly rolled through campus in a socially-distanced decorated car procession. For some alumni, the original car procession, while creative, hadn’t provided a sense of closure.
“They were trying to make the best out of a bad situation,” Buster Scheuer ‘20 said, “but it didn’t really feel like a graduation… It didn’t make me feel like I was moving on.” At the time, administrators assured students that the modified celebration was only temporary and that a real graduation would be held when it became possible.
That promise was fulfilled this spring.
Planning for the event began nearly a year ago, back in June 2024, shortly after last year’s reunion. When Director of Alumnae/i Engagement Brooke Nalle and her team realized that this year’s reunion honored class years ending in 0s and 5s, the Class of 2020 immediately came to mind. “Everybody on my team said, ‘Oh, wait, that’s the class of 2020… What are we going to do for them?’” Nalle said.
Rather than replicate a traditional graduation, Nalle said the School opted for a more fitting format: a celebration with “touches” of a Masters commencement designed to reflect the time that had passed and where the alumni were in their lives. “If you try to replicate graduation, you can never get it right,” Nalle said. “They’ve graduated from college and university… Going back to high school graduation feels a little weird.”
The event included short speeches from Head of School Laura Danforth, Head of Upper School Peter Newcomb, at-the-time Class Dean Mr. Carnevale, who now serves as dean of students, and former Class of 2020 Presidents Lawrence Azzariti and Michelle Wei. There was also a surprise performance of the Irish Blessing by the Glee Club, a long-standing commencement tradition. In addition to the more traditional elements, there were also some new twists, including a Prosecco toast for the now-of-age alumni.
“This was a class that was the first one to lose a graduation,” Newcomb said. “The opportunity to gather everybody together to honor their time with us is really exciting.”
Input from the Class of 2020 also helped shape the event’s tone. Azzariti emphasized that the celebration should avoid framing the class as victims of the COVID-era and instead focus on their enduring bonds. “He said, ‘I really want the message to be about resilience and being close as a class,” Nalle said.
More than 25 members of the class returned for the celebration, an impressive turnout for a five-year reunion. The primary goal was to make those returning alumni feel remembered and valued. “Sometimes [a student might] wonder, ‘Do they still remember me?’” Nalle said. “I really want them to know that we do. We miss them and we care about them.”
