LACJ HS Graduation
Donation protected
Our students had their year stolen from them. Prom. Senior Week. Graduation. Each rite of passage unceremoniously ripped away one after the other as COVID-19 wreaked havoc on New York City. In our Title One school filled with predominantly black and brown youth this epidemic hit hardest; news of death came daily, news of unemployment, news of sickness. Our students reached out to us for groceries, worried about taking AP exams because their WIFI wasn’t working, cried about the loss of loved ones who entered COVID hospital wings alone and never came home. All while submitting classwork, grappling with college decisions, and studying for national exams. Compounding the impacts of COVID-19, another pandemic—one of racism and police brutality—made for an unprecedented senior year filled with sorrow and struggle. As images of police brutality flooded their social media feeds, once again they fought for the finish line, applying for scholarships, attending virtual interviews, and submitting final papers in an effort to prepare for life after high school.
In a survey distributed to our kids, we asked, what do you need from us? One after the other, students wrote that they wanted and needed an in-person graduation. A committee of students approached the principal and begged her for a final chance to see their friends, their teachers, their community. A chance for normalcy—even if just for a few hours. An opportunity for joy, hope, and reward for the culmination of their hard work. Our students desperately want to have this rite of passage and we desperately want to give this to them. But, we need your help: With restrictions as is the only way to do this is to create a socially distanced graduation at the home of a school leader. While for many schools, this reality might be easily offered, we are underfunded and our students do not have the means to contribute financially.
Please help us give this joy to our students who have struggled so much this year. We need to transport the students via bus, set up a sound system, rent chairs, a podium, and portable toilets. We need thermometers and hand sanitizer, masks and gloves. Graduation in the age of COVID-19 will take some work, but our kids deserve this—this year more than any. Please donate and help us reach our goal of giving our kids the graduation they deserve. Don’t let young people who have lost so much miss their graduation as well. Give them two hours of joy, of normalcy, and of celebration to remind them that we see them, we hear them, they are not forgotten, and this nation cares about ALL its youth.
In a survey distributed to our kids, we asked, what do you need from us? One after the other, students wrote that they wanted and needed an in-person graduation. A committee of students approached the principal and begged her for a final chance to see their friends, their teachers, their community. A chance for normalcy—even if just for a few hours. An opportunity for joy, hope, and reward for the culmination of their hard work. Our students desperately want to have this rite of passage and we desperately want to give this to them. But, we need your help: With restrictions as is the only way to do this is to create a socially distanced graduation at the home of a school leader. While for many schools, this reality might be easily offered, we are underfunded and our students do not have the means to contribute financially.
Please help us give this joy to our students who have struggled so much this year. We need to transport the students via bus, set up a sound system, rent chairs, a podium, and portable toilets. We need thermometers and hand sanitizer, masks and gloves. Graduation in the age of COVID-19 will take some work, but our kids deserve this—this year more than any. Please donate and help us reach our goal of giving our kids the graduation they deserve. Don’t let young people who have lost so much miss their graduation as well. Give them two hours of joy, of normalcy, and of celebration to remind them that we see them, we hear them, they are not forgotten, and this nation cares about ALL its youth.
Organizer
Tahirina Khan
Organizer
New York, NY