Dear Class of 2020

“This is so unfair. No one has ever had to go through this EVER.” Those are words pulled straight from the grade school journal of a younger, more dramatic Bekah. The occasion? Y2K. As we started the year 2000, there were fears that computers everywhere would crash and we wouldn’t be able to do life as planned. I thought the world was ending, and that seemed incredibly unfair. In hindsight, it was no big deal. A few computer programs glitched out, but none of us are walking around 20 years later saying, “Oof. Remember Y2K? That was rough.” The pandemic we’re in is different. We’ll be remembering this one for a while. And if you’ve looked around at your unworn prom dress, your canceled class trip, and a graduation ceremony over Zoom and thought to yourself, “This is really unfair,” you’re right. It is unfair. [tweetthis]Dear Class of 2020, this is really unfair to you. But here's why that can be used to your advantage. [/tweetthis] I’m not here to tell you that life is unfair and you should get over it. I’m not even here to give insight into how much better life gets after high school and that in the long run, it’s ok that you missed your last semester. While those things may be true, I want to actually focus in on how unfair it is. Because unfair can be a good thing.

It’s unfair that you have the world rallying around you and finding ways to celebrate you. It’s unfair that you’re already crushing your first real-world problem with grace and a joy that's so obvious when I scroll through your social media posts. It’s unfair that you’re more set up for success than many classes before you.

Every struggle we face gives us the opportunity to problem solve and innovate. As much as we'd rather not face it, that struggle is a building block to success. As you head to your next round of education or into the workforce, you've already been given that building block. So, look for ways to use "unfair" to your advantage. Blow us away with the forward-thinking that only comes from someone who has faced a roadblock and learned how to overcome it. I’m rooting for you. I hope someday I get to have you as an employee. Actually, scratch that. I can’t wait for the day that I work for a boss who comes from the class of 2020.