Graduation season is upon us, and the 2020-21 school year is coming to a close. This has been a school year like few others, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

There was some wonder at the beginning of the year how it would work to bring hundreds of students together in classrooms at a time when face masks and six-foot social distancing was required. Would students have to learn from home, as they did for the last few months of the previous school year? If they did come to school, how would they be kept safe?

Somehow, local school districts managed. District 88 went all-in on face-to-face learning, with face masks, frequent sanitizing of school rooms and equipment. It managed to get through most of the school year, shutting down only once near Thanksgiving when it became too difficult to find substitute teachers to fill in for those who were quarantined or had become ill. Student athletes suffered the most, with the fall season starting late. But seasons were held, with restrictions and safety concerns, teammates practicing in pods, and attendance restricted.

The challenges that everyone had to face made this a difficult year, but those challenges make the successful conclusion all the more triumphant.

We salute those helped make this school year happen, and we hope, with vaccinations for all, that following school years will get back to normal.

Congratulations to all of our area graduates.