'Everything was uncertain’: Pandemic graduates reflect on Year 12

They had to suffer through lockdowns, remote learning and social distancing guidelines while juggling their VCE or VCAL course, and lost the opportunity to take part in graduations, debs, muck-up days, 18th birthday parties and more.

Now, graduating members of those cohorts are entering the workforce and further education following a different Year 12 to anyone in the past 100 years.

Is it all doom and gloom? Through this adversity, some students were able to gain resilience they otherwise might not have.

We had a chat with a few of these ‘COVID graduates’ to get their thoughts.

Emily Chalmers, 20

Emily Chalmers graduated from McGuire College in 2020. She is doing a bachelor of criminology and psychological science at Deakin University, and is currently completing summer subjects online from home.

Ms Chalmers said she felt she completely missed out on the Year 12 social experience.

“There were no events or parties, or a Year 12 camp,” Ms Chalmers said.

Ms Chalmers said she handled the first lockdown really well.

“We had a bit more time. I didn’t have to get up early for the bus. Overall I had a pretty optimistic outlook on the whole thing,” she said.

Ms Chalmers said she and her classmates struggled a lot more with the second lockdown.

“It was a pivotal year for my mental health. I was struggling right before COVID and the second lockdown really hit me,” she said.

“I think a lot of people were going through it. We really had to support each other.”

Ms Chalmers said she recalled a time when she and her friends had created a group FaceTime call to watch a movie together.

She said these kinds of interactions were invaluable and helped keep her going.

“There were a lot of mental health conversations. You’d talk to someone and they’d say something that would stick with you, and help get you through it,” she said.

With Ms Chalmers currently studying at home, she said the pandemic helped her understand how she learnt best at home.

“In the moment it felt like my peaceful space had been taken from me and turned into school,” she said.

“Now I know I need to get out of my room and create that learning environment for myself.”

Matthew Bitcon, 20

Matthew Bitcon graduated from Goulburn Valley Grammar School in 2021.

He enrolled into further education shortly after graduating before switching into work experience with the Royal Australian Air Force.

Mr Bitcon said COVID and remote learning completely changed the feel of school. He said it threw off the “balance” of learning.

“My personal motivation went completely down the drain,” he said.

Mr Bitcon said during remote learning he and many of his classmates “fell into a bit of a depression”.

“Everyone was affected mentally in some way,” he said.

As school resumed after lockdowns, he found assignments difficult to keep up with as they piled up.

He said many of them would often be compressed into the same week, causing large amounts of stress for the students.

Even after graduation, COVID affected Mr Bitcon’s career plans.

He said his application to the military was delayed almost four months, during which time he enrolled at university because he had no idea if or when he would be able to get in to the military.

Despite the negatives, Mr Bitcon is grateful for the “strength and independence” he gained while studying during the pandemic.

Angelina Mason, 19

Angelina Mason graduated from Greater Shepparon Secondary College at the McGuire campus in 2022.

She is about to begin studying a bachelor of science at Monash University.

Ms Mason said she felt lucky to have graduated last year as it was a much more “normal” school year than 2021 and 2020.

“I was quite lucky in this aspect, as the events that were cancelled were brought back in later years,” Ms Mason said.

“I was even able to experience a proper graduation and valedictory dinner with family and friends.”

Ms Mason said there were pros and cons of remote learning.

“I got to remain warm and cosy during the winter period and I got to eat whenever I wanted,” she said.

“I felt really unmotivated and I think a lot of the cohort felt this way.

“I rarely wanted to do homework, wanted to join that Teams meeting or even wake up for that 9am school check in.

“I also found it harder to understand certain concepts being taught.”

Ms Mason said she didn’t feel driven at home, and it began to have an impact on her mental health.

“I started to blame myself and feel guilty that I wasn’t achieving more, which definitely took a toll on my mental health and my confidence coming into my last year of high school,” she said.

She said she felt defeated, and was constantly reminded that “Year 12 is the only year that matters” or told that “Year 12 is supposed to be this hard”.

Despite all this, Ms Mason said she was able to get the results she wanted to get into the course she wanted.

“I suppose I’d have more friendships, I’d also probably have better mental and physical health, but I’m sure I’ll get there in due time,” she said.

Shaun Morris, 19

Shaun Morris graduated from Greater Shepparton Secondary College at the McGuire campus in 2021. He is studying exercise sport science and business sport management at Deakin University in Geelong.

Mr Morris said he initially enjoyed the change of pace remote learning brought.

“I could get all my work done in the morning and have the rest of the day to myself,” he said.

As time went on and Year 12 began to ramp up, he began to lose motivation and found working from home more of a struggle.

Mr Morris said despite the extra challenges, he never felt in a bad mental state during lockdowns, and managed to stay on top of his work.

“Personally, I’m very happy with where I am. With or without COVID I would’ve gone to university,” he said.

Mr Morris said the experience gave him crucial time-management skills.

Emily Minotti-Watson, 19

Emily Minotti-Watson graduated from Greater Shepparton Secondary College at the Wanganui campus in 2021.

She is currently a full-time merchandise co-ordinator at JB Hi-Fi in Shepparton.

Ms Minotti-Watson said COVID made her senior schooling experience “so different”.

“With it not being face to face it was so much harder to learn and soak up information,” she said.

Before COVID, Ms Minotti-Watson planned to study environmental science at a Melbourne university.

She said she lost all motivation after remote learning and the lockdowns.

“I would have been out of Shepparton studying, but COVID made the whole thing really off-putting,” Ms Minotti-Watson said.

“I didn’t do exams because of COVID, so I have no ATAR.”

She said school was a struggle in itself, but the situation made her and her classmates feel “really isolated”.

“I felt disappointed in myself for struggling with it all. It was so hard to keep up. Everybody I knew was also struggling,” she said.

Ms Minotti-Watson said through the struggle she gained a large amount of patience.

“Everything was uncertain,” she said.

“Nobody knew what to do or expect.

“We didn’t even know if we were going to graduate. So you just had to get really good at being patient, and believe in yourself.

“At the end of the day everything will be okay. It’s not the end of the world.”

Tarsh Boyko and Susan Barr

Greater Shepparton Secondary College careers leader Tarsh Boyko and careers practitioner Susan Barr both taught during remote learning and worked with ‘COVID graduates’ to help them with their pathways after school.

Both said the pandemic created an unprecedented senior education experience.

“There was a lot of change with how exams could be sat, the General Admissions Test was changed three times and there were so many new rules we had to adhere to,” Ms Boyko said.

“If you’re the type of student that really needs that face-to-face learning, it was really difficult.

“From a teaching perspective, we tried to be understanding of each student’s individual situation and we made a lot of adjustments to deadlines.

“Some students that weren’t comfortable with the change didn’t attempt to tap into their education at all, unfortunately.”

The school sourced computers and WiFi dongles for students that didn’t have access to the required technology at home.

“It was a big change, and it made students develop some IT skills, and made it harder for those that didn’t have those skills,” Mrs Barr said.

“Not everyone works well in that style, but I’m finding more and more students are used to that after COVID.”

Part of students tapping out was due to missing out on “the Year 12 experience”.

“There’s a lot of milestones that you’ve watched all of the other year levels have, and COVID really put a stop to all of that,” Ms Boyko said.

She said the rise of online university courses had made the jump to university more realistic and affordable for some students, who were now able to study from home as a direct result of the pandemic.

While universities changed the way they admitted students and opened more pathways, Ms Boyko said many people still fell through the cracks.

A lot of specific industries suffered throughout the pandemic, and that led to students changing their plans due to a perceived lack of employment opportunities or uncertainty about the future of particular industries.

“A lot of students chose not to take the next step because there was so much unknown, and that really hit those kids,” Mrs Boyko said.

She said the school kept tabs on former students, and found many of them were still working entry-level jobs in Shepparton instead of moving on to further education or following traditional career paths.

The pair said many students chose not to do exams or receive their ATAR score and just focused on graduating and getting a Year 12 certificate.

“Some of the kids were a bit lost because their senior years’ experience wasn’t what they had set their heart on for the last 12 years,” Mrs Boyko said.

In an unprecedented time, Mrs Boyko and Ms Barr still found silver linings in how students reacted.

“A lot of students, more than normal in my opinion, chose to do ‘unscored’, but the good thing was they weren’t giving up, they were seeing Year 12 through to the end and I see that as a win,” Ms Boyko said.

“If there’s one thing COVID has shown us, it is that these kids are a very resilient bunch, and they’ve learned to be very flexible,” Ms Barr said.