The Williams Record (https://williamsrecord.com/tag/senior-issue-2020/page/2/)
It is again the time of year when seniors are normally preparing to receive their diplomas from the College, with their family and friends crowded on Paresky Lawn to cheer for them. The coronavirus pandemic, however, has forced schools across the country to dramatically alter their graduation ceremonies, drastically altering seniors’ plans.
I was the first in my family to receive a high school diploma. Shortly, I will also be the first to earn a bachelor’s degree.
2020 — the perfect vision class! 2000 got the millennium, 2017 had their prime, but vision… there’s a game-changer, and have we ever needed it more?
Friday was the last day of class, the last day of college. I finished off with “PSCI 215: Race and Inequality in the American City” with Assistant Professor of Leadership Studies and Political Science Mason B. Williams. He went above and beyond with online learning to make sure we were all getting adequate professor time; he split us up into small groups and spent significantly more time video calling with us than he would have had to for in-person classes.
When you tell the story of your life and experience at Williams College, of what you did and how you grew during your time here, what will you include and what will you leave out? Do you talk about your frosh entry and the friends you made along the way?
While life after college typically invites adulthood, independence and rapid growth, the post-grad plans of Jack Romans ’20 do quite the opposite. In fact, the project he will undertake through the Watson Fellowship — a prestigious one-year grant for independent international research — is titled “Never Growing Up.”
Giebien Na ’20 did not expect to graduate as the first-ever quadruple major at the College. But he has earned the title after adding a fifth course to his schedule for many consecutive semesters and building passions across the three academic divisions.
A senior thesis represents the culmination of many students’ academic journeys at the College. But this year, like most other aspects of College life, the senior thesis process has been heavily affected by COVID-19.
For Anne-Sophie van Wingerden ’20, whose comparative literature thesis focused on a 19th century book about a Dutch civil servant in Indonesia, the biggest loss was not being able to have the same kind of informal conversation with her thesis advisor online as she could have in-person.
Dear Williams Class of 2020:
Congratulations! Neuroscientists say struggle is crucial to learning, so there’s no doubt you will learn a lot over the next few years. America has dug itself in a Mariana Trench-sized hole, and you are at the bottom of it. You are now free to start climbing out. Take us with you, if you don’t mind.
For over a decade, Ben Mygatt ’20 has honed his craft as a violinist, and he has no plan to stop anytime soon.