Roxana Badaloni
12/26/2020 5:35 PM
Clarín.com
Society
Updated 12/26/2020 5:43 PM
As fast as a blink of an eye, what was to be “the best year of life” for
2020 graduates passed
.
From that street ceremony of the UPD (last first day) in which they spent the whole night awake, to the delivery of a
diploma with a mask and social distance
.
Or, worse, as happened to my daughter to continue with the self-referential: her school decided that after 9 months of virtual classes,
the act of collation
would also be behind a screen.
This week the directors of the schools of the National University of Cuyo fired the fifth and sixth year students from a TV studio.
The few graduates who agreed to participate from the living room of their houses, saw it as a boring late-night program.
But this story was not so bleak.
There is always a quota of creativity.
It was a simple
“act of love”,
as the graffiti that is the emblem of the Mendoza university college says.
Mothers and fathers plan a
blue collation
for the graduates of the Central University College (CUC).
We organize an end-of-year event in a municipal theater with all the protocols.
And, outside of all predictions of a miserable 2020, the celebration was
exciting and perfect.
Graduates 2020. Emotion, the final hug from the boys of the CUC.
“They rented the theater, they got sound, lights, voice over, and they even gave us some surprises that we didn't even expect, such as photos and videos of what the five years of high school have been.
For us it meant a lot ”, said graduate Lu Strappazzón, about the initiative of mothers and fathers.
The smile of the 160 graduates when they met again at the Godoy Cruz theater, compensated for the infinite grief that caused so many moments ruined by the pandemic.
These boys did not do the ceremony of the divers, the fire pit and the election of chiefs had to be carried out in a virtual way (the students are divided into Huarpes and Pehuenches tribes as group members), they had to suspend the camp and
were left without a trip of graduates.
“We told them in March that it was for a few days and we failed.
We promised them again countless times that they would come back and we kept lying to them.
We asked them all year long to fulfill their obligations as students, to work hard, saying over and over again that they would soon make up for lost time.
But
that day never came "
, begins the letter from the parents to the authorities of the Central University College for them to agree to a face-to-face meal.
Graduates 2020. With chinstrap and social distance, this was the ceremony at the Plaza de Godoy Cruz theater.
The governor of Mendoza Rodolfo Suarez approved the end-of-year events in person, given the marked drop in Covid cases.
"We know what they have suffered and we do not want the last act of their primary or secondary school to be by zoom or that they receive a cold email as the last contact with the school," argued Suarez. However, the UNCuyo, protected by its autonomy and based on its epidemiological committee, it considered that there was "no capacity" for management or health security to make the collation of the six university colleges, where the best averages in the province concur.
"This is an act of love"
Graduates 2020. Mendoza.
An act of love, that's what the mothers of the CUC students called the end of year ceremony.
In the schoolyard, from different places, the legend can be read on a wall: “This is an act of love”.
The graffiti emerged as an act of protest and rebellion during the Menem government that created the Polimodal and shortened secondary school to three years.
With the change of government, Mendoza returned to the old scheme of 7 years of primary school and five years of secondary school.
The mural remained in the CUC and is a symbol of love for the school.
This 2020 when the boys dreamed of a return to class, although it seems unthinkable that a teenager dreams of going back to school,
the directors refused to close the year in person.
Then came Plan B devised by families.
"We all know that duels go through and the farewell ceremonies are part of that.
Saying goodbye is being able to close a cycle.
Don't deny them being able to do it and let's not deny that this stage that should be of joy was not that. It was a duel. Help us to heal it. It is the last opportunity to share with your classmates, teachers and preceptors, "the parents begged.
Graduates 2020. The fifth-year CUC students received a diploma illustrated by Chanti.
In the first person: the long-awaited return to class
I review my posts of the year.
Half speak of the absence of face-to-face classes in Argentina and the harm caused to children and adolescents.
I have campaigned for going back to school, it has been my obsession in the year of the pandemic.
Once again, I hear the rector of UNCuyo on the radio.
He admits that
they do not have conditions or personnel to make the collations.
An hour later the parents' chat arrives - I already told them that although our children grew up, we still learn about some things through that channel - the proposal that will change the history of these graduates.
"What if we do it?" Proposes a father.
The answer is unanimous.
Same emoji replicated multiple times in chat: thumbs up.
We got down to work.
He started the race to get a qualified place, where the risk of contagion was minimal.
A day later, an agreement was reached with the Plaza del Municipio de Godoy Cruz theater.
"We have a date on Monday, December 14 in two shifts," they confirm.
We had to work against the clock, there was only one week left to write the script, make the diplomas, make the videos, invite the teachers to join the academic table and get a voiceover, photography and setting.
Each family contributed $ 200 pesos to cover expenses.
More economical impossible.
On December 14, the day the planets aligned, I slept for four hours.
This time not because of the apathy or insomnia of the pandemic, but because of the anxiety of what would be our children's only end-of-year memory.
Finally, the fifth year boys from the CUC met again after 9 months.
And this time the parents were the loving support of that created bubble.
There was laughter, tears, nostalgia, relief and the teaching that in life ... everything passes.
The Mendoza illustrator Santiago González Riga, alias Chanti, gave the illustration of the diploma to the CUC boys who lost their last year of high school due to the pandemic.
Graduates received end-of-year diplomas.
It was not just any diploma, but
a work illustrated by Chanti, the great children's cartoonist
(author of the Mayor and Minor strip), who as a former student wanted to give them his talent.
"How could I not do it if I was a CUC graduate," said Chanti.
And he confessed that he felt the need to help because it is very sad to finish high school "without even having been able to go to classes in the last year." The diploma has not academic validity but affective: "Received from eternal cuquero", it was printed. foot, the inspiring phrase: "You are so great that the world stopped for you."
Chanti / From the author's Instagram @chantihumor
In the end there was even an academic table.
It was made up of
twelve teachers
who had chosen the students as favorites, who attended voluntarily.
The most electrifying moment was the ovation of the fathers, mothers, grandparents and siblings when, loudly, the announcers Marianella Bomprezzi and Paula Monteagudo welcomed the 2020 graduates. We applauded to rage: my heart literally leaped out.
With her keyboard in tow and her sweet voice, graduate Violeta Trujillo gave us a harmonious closing with her songs.
There was still the end of the act written by a mother, the teacher Andrea Enrici: "Fly as high as you can, honor life by illuminating other lives, and do not fear challenges or falls".
And one last piece of advice with a nod to nostalgia: "Keep in mind that generosity and love improve all lives. That every day you will have the opportunity to do something that allows you to say what was reflected on the school wall:
This It is an act of love".
SC
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