This is my open letter to the high school students graduating during the pandemic, a global cohort of graduates. I would like to acknowledge the loss of their rituals of celebration, their sadness, their anger -- and their resolve, their possibility as humanity's future, a cohort like none other.
In case you missed them, here are the celebrity commencement speeches and USAmerican celebrations from: Oprah Winfrey - https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/15/us/oprah-winfrey-2020-commencement-speech.html; Former US President Barack Obama - https://youtu.be/sTFWC1PiLVE; and John Krasinki's Some Good News - https://youtu.be/IweS2CPSnbI.
And if you're unfamiliar with, or need a refresher on the "RAFT" acronym (Reconciliation, Affirmation, Farewells, Think Destination) - please see two seminal works on this topic: "Third Culture Kids, 3rd Edition: Growing up Among Worlds" by Ruth Van Reken, David C. Pollock, and Michael V. Pollock and "Safe Passage: how mobility affects people & what international schools should do about it" by Doug Ota.
