2020 Grads

Page 60 CLASS OF 2020 LINCOLN DAILY NEWS JUNE 2020 Claire Coogan - Class President speech Mount Pulaski High School Class of 2020 Graduation H owdy and thank you all for tuning in! Usually they say to imagine your audience in their underwear and it’ll make you less nervous. Well, 1) I don’t see how that would make anyone less nervous and 2) I don’t actually have to see any of you. So I guess that helps. For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Claire Coogan, the class president. I had writer’s blocks for the LONGEST time and really struggled with this speech. What can I say in a time like this? How does one properly send off their classmates in a pandemic? I don’t think there’s any clear answer here. So I’m just gonna cut to the chase. I want you to close your eyes and imagine with me. Imagine you’re a fresh faced 18 year old student (with a couple zits) at Mount Pulaski High School. You’ve worked all your life to graduate. You’ve had sleepless nights after bombing your first bio test with Mrs. Clark, dreaded every Wednesday mile, and RACED every single day to the lunch line. You were yelled at as a freshman for being on the wrong side of the hallway, you had lockers that were stuck shut half the time, and you watched games from the top of the student section. You have paid your dues. It’s time to go. And now…. YOU CAN’T. It’s like a bad breakup. You want to leave and give a proper goodbye but your boyfriend JB won’t let you. And then, JB says, “Well you see, there’s a new girl in town… her name is Rona…” “WHAT?!” you think? This thing called Rona has ended my senior year. And now I’m giving a speech to a video camera? Oh dear… I can do this though! So here it goes. The class of 2020 is one of the kindest, most understanding, and strongest classes I have seen in awhile. We are also the largest class that MPHS has seen in a minute (at a CONTINUED u