Congratulations to the Class of 2020!

Over the course of the last week of May, Gonzaga organized a Virtual Senior Week to celebrate and honor the Class of 2020. For four days, seniors were invited to join a variety of virtual events -- from a Senior Retreat and trivia competitions to opportunities to "visit" with different teachers and participate in student contests judged by panels of faculty members.

 
 
 
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“Since starting distance learning, I think everyone in our Gonzaga community has felt a loss for the Class of 2020,” says Assistant Director of Campus Ministry Danielle Flood, who helped to organize the week. “While we know nothing could make up for what this time of year typically looks like on Eye Street, we still wanted to celebrate. A few weeks ago, members of the Class of 2020, along with campus ministers, administrators, teachers, and coaches from all over campus, all put our heads together to see what we could do—and something special really was born of it.”
 
To kick the week off, Gonzaga shared a video made by the Aetonian announcing the winners of the senior superlatives, which you can watch by clicking here. On Tuesday, Gonzaga's Campus Ministry department organized a virtual Senior Retreat, which included opportunities for students to reflect and pray. As part of that event, faculty and staff members submitted prayers for a book dedicated to the Class of 2020. You can page through the prayer book, called Go Forth, by clicking here. 
 
In addition, throughout the week, each senior received a handful of personal videos from faculty members. Ms. Kylee Piper, who helped pull together these videos, said: "We collected over 700 videos from teachers from every academic department, as well as from faculty members from all over campus. These videos are a wonderful testament to our seniors about how much their school community cares about them, even when they're not on campus." 

On Thursday, WZAG teacher Mr. Kilroy organized a "watch party," where seniors came together to watch a Best Of video of the past four years of WZAG. On Friday, College Counseling, with the help of seniors Chase Gurey and Justin Fronda, released this video celebrating the Class of 2020's college decisions and next steps after Eye Street.

Each day, students were also encouraged to enter into a lighthearted competition that would be judged by a panel of faculty members. Click here to see a video of the judges panel reviewing and scoring the entries in the trick shots competition.

On Thursday night at 8:20 PM (which in military time is 20:20), Gonzaga turned on the lights on Buchanan Field for 20 minutes and 20 seconds. This special tribute was a surprise, and was streamed on Gonzaga’s social media channels alongside photos of every member of the Class of 2020. You can watch a video of the livestream here.
 
Says Danielle Flood: “What I have loved about this week is that it is uniquely grounded in community, relationships, and a celebration of one another—something that has always been at the heart of what Gonzaga students represent, whether or not we are physically on campus. I hope that students and faculty alike have been able to take graces from this week of friendship, fun, and faith, and that it holds us over until we are able to celebrate in person with one another!”
 
The weeklong celebration will culminate this Sunday, May 31 with a special virtual Mass and Video. We will stream Mass from Our Lady’s Chapel at 10 AM; Father Planning will celebrate and will be joined by Gonzaga Headmaster Mr. Tom Every, who will read the names of all of the members of the Class of 2020. After the Mass, we will premiere a video tribute to the Gonzaga Class of 2020; click here to join us at 10 AM.
 
Congratulations to the Gonzaga Class of 2020!
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Celebrating 200 Years of Jesuit Education in the Nation's Capital