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Pomp and scary circumstance: images of Michigan grads amid coronavirus

Ron Holland

Diplomas delivered by school bus. Graduation speeches spoken through face masks. Commencements held in parking lots.

Welcome to high school graduation during a pandemic.

Public and private K-12 schools across the state were closed in mid-March to help stem the spread of COVID-19. Those closures took a particularly heavy psychic toll on high school seniors, who were robbed of proms and graduation ceremonies — once-in-a-lifetime events snuffed out by a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic. Schools across the state worked to come up with creative ways to honor seniors and make up for the canceled events. Bridge collected images from schools and seniors chronicling what was a very unusual graduation season.

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