Commencement Magazine 2020

My stomach full of pumpkin pie and turkey, I sat on the floor of my childhood bedroom writing and rewriting an email. Yes, it was Thanksgiving. But as an Opinions Editor for The Herald, I didn’t take days off.

I remember being wide-eyed and nervous. My stomach was in knots, yet my heart was warm and full of anticipation. My parents and I had decided to take a road trip from my home in North Carolina to Providence, Rhode Island for my college move-in.

I am technically part of the class of 2019.5. But because I graduated a little early, I decided to spend spring semester on campus, remaining engaged in the communities I have come to love at Brown.

My mind has never thought as an ordered set of instructions. I always have a jumble of thoughts in my head, reminders to do laundry next to overdue problem sets on top of pleas from my mom to CALL MY GRANDPARENTS.

As an organizer for Sunrise Providence, Emma Bouton ’20 planned to participate in a mass strike on Earth Day to protest the lack of political action taken to combat climate change.

For many adults, the end of the pandemic will be marked by apparent normalcy. Control over the novel coronavirus (whether in the form of a vaccine, herd immunity, or comprehensive contact tracing) promises the cessation of mass death, yes, but also the return of familiar routines.

The coronavirus has radically changed the last three months of my college experience by ending in-person classes, making me leave campus and postponing my graduation.

A couple days before classes started last fall, I learned that my grandmother was dying. She was the oldest member of my family, but we did not expect such a rapid decline in her health.

Richard Bungiro PhD’99, senior lecturer in molecular microbiology and immunology, structures his course BIOL 0530: “Principles of Immunology” around pop culture themes. He challenges students to untangle the hypothetical immunological functions of a Terminator or a dragon.

During the Spring Weekend that never was, Jordana Siegel ’20 found herself drawn to the Main Green.