Tatler speaks to three young women about what it was like not being able to have in-person graduations
The advent of yet another virtual graduation season this year has been bittersweet. It at once marks the strength and resilience of students in pursuing higher education during a pandemic and the sadness that their university experience has been unconventional, to say the least.
Throwback: Class of 2020 Graduates Share Their Hopes And Dreams For The Future
Alyssa Johaan
At the start of the pandemic, 24-year-old Alyssa Johaan was a student in London pursuing her Master's degree in strategic marketing at Imperial College Business School. During her Easter break in March, she had planned a short trip home but little did she know, she would be completing the remainder of her course in Malaysia.
"Everything happened quite abruptly," she says. Her plans of starting a six-week internship at one of the biggest online luxury fashion retailers as part of her course was dashed.
She immediately got to work on her dissertation project as well as her remaining academic commitments. "It was a struggle arranging the discussions to complete our group assignments," shares Alyssa. She and her coursemates, who lived all around the world, were faced with the logistical nightmare of coordinating time zones across different continents.
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