The 2020-21 academic year was challenging. We did not have spring break; we missed being close to each other and had to meet in little boxes on Zoom. But despite it all, our students continued to show up for classes even while dispersed in time zones across the world, still read and engaged and thought and wrote. Their passion for literary study energized faculty who chafed behind computer screens. It is therefore with special delight that we want to celebrate our graduating seniors and prize winners this year. It is not a simple achievement to complete a senior essay even in the best of times: to have done so while hunkered down without access to friends deserves particular commendation.
Congratulations to the graduates and prize winners of 2021!