Fredericksburg Parent

14 Fredericksburg Parent and Family • Stories of Strength Special Issue WRITTEN BY BRANDY CENTOLANZA "Many of us who are graduating today could not have fathomed the challenge that arose during our journey toward achieving academic excellence." Like most colleges and universities, Germanna Community College was tasked this year with conducting a virtual graduation ceremony for its students due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The fall graduation ceremony, which was taped a few weeks prior to the December 14 graduation, featured a plethora of students, faculty and staff donning the traditional cap and gown and offering inspirational speeches and words of wisdom for the gradu- ating class of 2020. It was an atypical year for college students, especially seniors, as they were forced to quickly switch to online instruction and attempt to meet gradua- tion requirements amidst the chaos of the quarantine because of the pandemic. LeAndre Blakely, a U.S. Army veteran who graduated in the fall with an associate degree in nursing, was selected as student speaker for the fall virtual commencement. "What a year," he told his classmates during the roughly hour-long commencement video. "Many of us who are graduating today could not have fathomed the challenge that arose during our journey toward achieving academic excellence. COVID-19 pre- sented an unprecedented challenge that none of us could have foreseen. It was diffi- cult for all of us. Yet we are here. We all kept our eyes on the goal." One of the students who persevered despite the COVID-related challenges was Chris Chira, speaker for the fall virtual nursing and health technologies pinning ceremony. Chira, the son of Romanian immigrants, served as student nursing council president during his final semester at Germanna. He decided to pursue a career in health care due in part to his older brother, who was born with spina bifida and had to be flown to America for treatment. "The pandemic definitely made life as a student more difficult," Chira says. "From learning in a classroom setting to having lectures delivered online it was a difficult transition for a lot of people in my class and for me. Fortunately, we had some profes- sors that were cognizant of that and tried their best to transition us and to constantly motivate and encourage us to do our best despite the obstacles. To those professors, I have utmost respect and am thankful for them for going above and beyond for their students' success." Germanna Community College We All Kept We All Kept Our Eyes on Our Eyes on

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