SUMMARY
With graduation season in full swing, the class of 2024 is reflecting on a highly unusual four years of school. Their freshman experience was marked by pandemic lockdowns, but that was just the first in a chain of momentous global events. NewsHour spoke to some members of this class about how they're looking back and forward.
View the transcript of the story.
News alternative: Check out from the NewsHour, and choose the story you’re most interested in watching. You can make a Google doc copy of discussion questions that work for any of the stories here.
WARM-UP QUESTIONS
- Who are some of the students interviewed for this story, and what type of schools did they attend?
- When (what year) did the high school and college graduating classes of 2024 begin in high school and college, respectively?
- How has the last four years been like "living out a history book" according to student Matthew Spiker?
- What are some of the events of the past four years that students say made their school experience unusual?
- Why did school still not seem "back to normal" for many students after return from pandemic quarantines?
FOCUS QUESTIONS
- How do you think your school experience has been different than previous generations because of the COVID disruption?
- Do you think there are other differences for students of this generation more important than the COVID disruption? If so, what?
Media literacy: If this story had focused only on high school instead of college graduates, how do you think some of the responses would have been different?
Alternative: See, Think, Wonder: What did you notice? What did the story make you think? What would you want to learn more about?
FOR MORE
What students can do: Watch the following short video produced by Student Reporting Labs in September 2021 on what it was like to return to school after pandemic quarantines. Then discuss as a class —
- What challenges from that time do you think your school community has overcome?
- What challenges still linger?
- Do you think life at school is not permanently different than before the pandemic?
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