New grads face uncertain future — and offer us hope

This first episode of “Sesame Street — sponsored by the letters W, S and E and the numbers 2 and 3 — aired in 1969.

Like today, those were turbulent times.

The country was rocked by the Vietnam War and shaken from the assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy the year before.

Like many of you, I grew up with Sesame Street and watched it religiously. Through the years, its programming captured the challenges of the day and talked honestly about difficult subjects.

To help kids after 9/11, the first educational show on television, depicted a kitchen fire breaking out in Hooper’s Store. Elmo, the youngest character of the show was left traumatized by the fire, and a friendly FDNY employee named Bill, reassured Elmo that no matter how scary things might look, firefighters are there to help.

And in the year of the meme, there is one that has captured my attention. It is an image of Ernie from Sesame Street, looking downwards, with his hand over his face and the caption, “The Year 2020…brought to you by the letters W, T and F.”

That’s exactly how it must feel to the graduating class of 2020.

Their rite of passage is unlike any other in recent modern history.

They have been stripped of all of the traditional pomp because of the COVID-19 circumstances. No high school prom, signing yearbooks, graduation precession and while every day is senior ditch day, students can’t even celebrate that together.

Seniors will have a very different virtual ceremony, but they will have difficulty saying proper goodbyes to classmates and roommates.

After all of the hard work and educational accomplishments, this must be heartbreaking for high school and college seniors.

The path forward for higher education is challenging as well.

Students, parents, colleges and universities are facing a triple threat: unresolved plans to fully reopen, uncertain students and parents about attending, and the reduced ability of states to offset the costs of college.

Chalkbeat Colorado reported earlier this week that Colorado’s Joint Budget Committee slashed $493 million from next year’s higher education budget, a massive 58% cut from last year’s funding levels to help fill the state’s whopping $3.3 billion revenue shortfall. Gov. Jared Polis issued an executive order softening the blow by providing $450 million to public higher education institutions from the CARES Act, but the use of that money is restricted and must be related to the pandemic. In other words, it can’t be used to backfill the budget.

Some smaller schools across the state, which are economic drivers for their communities, could close. And, private universities are not benefactors of any of these funds.

Given the economic impact of the pandemic, many high school graduates, returning college students and their families may now need to set aside their dreams of a college degree.

And, for those graduating college or entering the job market, things look much different now. We’ve gone from a thriving economy to an economy that is edging towards depression-era unemployment rates.

But in the midst of darkness, light persists and the pandemic is clearly a teachable moment as well.

Celebrities and leaders like Bill Gates, Lebron James, and Oprah Winfrey are delivering inspiring and memorable commencement speeches to graduates streamed in podcasts, social media and on television.

They are, in essence, collectively passing the torch to a new generation of leaders.

In homage to Sesame Street, the class of 2020 should be sponsored by the letters B and T.

T, because it is their turn and time, to re-shape history. It is highly doubtful that they can make matters worse. In the words of former President Barack Obama, “more than anything, this pandemic has fully, finally torn back the curtain on the idea that so many of the folks in charge know what they’re doing. A lot of them aren’t even pretending to be in charge. If the world is going to get better it’s going to be up to you.”

B, is for bold, because it is time for bold action. Franklin Roosevelt, campaigning for president in 1932, called for “bold, persistent experimentation” in his commencement address at Oglethorpe University in words that ring true today.

One of my favorite quotes is from Marianne Williamson, yes, the one that ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination for president. “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be?. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine … .”

Go get ‘em class of 2020.