They are the Class of 2020, born in the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks and coming of age in another tumultuous time. The AP spoke with and photographed several graduating high school seniors to talk about where they've been and where they're going.
On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, a young woman in Texas -- as yet unaware of the horrors unfolding half a country away -- learns that she is pregnant. She emerges from her doctor’s office to a shocking new reality. “What kind of world will this be for my child?” she wonders.
“Our generation,” says Gavin Walters, son of that Texas mom, “will be the ones to surprise the world.”When his family heard the news about his father -- about the explosive device that detonated near his Humvee -- Gavin Walters had just turned 3. He will take with him photos of the father who still inspires him, though they never met. “This year has definitely been one of the harder ones,” he wrote recently, in a letter to his dad. “There’s days where I wish I had more than just pictures of you.”___Though Abia Khan was just 6 at the time, she was old enough to sense her father’s distress as he watched the stock market crash during the Great Recession of 2008.
Sagia also joined a youth program at the Chicago Police Department. She plans, eventually, to become a police officer and return to North Lawndale, to combat crime but also to help build better relations with the community – something she sees as more important than ever as cities burn in the wake of the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Eventually, she hopes to buy a home large enough to house them and her younger brothers and their families. For her, togetherness is “everything,” especially now.The one thing Del Smith hoped his dad could save was his guitar -- that, and Kermit, their orange tabby cat. But the ferocious wildfire approached their home in rural Paradise, California, too quickly.This was the Camp Fire, a blaze that would kill 85 people and burn more than 150,000 acres.
Del plans to attend nearby Butte College and then transfer to a bigger school. Maybe he’ll be a sound engineer. He’s thought about law school.
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