On Sunday, June 2, 2024, Falk Laboratory School welcomed its Class of 2020 back to the school for a special celebration of the group’s upcoming high school graduation and the next phase of its educational journey. More than 25 Falk alumni, along with parents and other family members, returned to Falk to visit classrooms, rediscover their legacy artwork and other traces of their time at Falk, and catch up with former classmates and teachers.

This reunion was a particularly special occasion because of the circumstances in which the Class of 2020 graduated from Falk Laboratory School. In 2020, due to COVID-19 restrictions, the class and their families met virtually, with the traditional slideshow and eighth-grade script shared over a class-wide Zoom meeting.

The reunion offered a chance for the class to come together in person to celebrate their achievement, with Dr. Jill Sarada calling the occasion a “gradunion.” She called each member of the class up onstage in the Marshall Family Theater and, in lieu of a diploma, handed each graduate a Falk t-shirt.

In her address to the class and their families, Dr. Sarada said that re-watching the Class of 2020’s slideshow and seeing the students’ faces in squares on a screen was a reminder of the trauma of that year.

“But then,” she said, “I felt gratitude that we had a recording of your graduation, which we don’t have for any other class that came before you. Then joy quickly took hold as the memories of the times with you came flooding back.”

Beth Myers, whose daughter, Cora, was a member of the 2020 class, says, “It was cool to see kids walking through the hall again.” She enjoyed catching up with the parents of some of her daughter’s friends.

Even during the pandemic, Myers says, there was a sentiment among parents that there should eventually be a party or event to celebrate the class.

“We were anticipating and wanting this opportunity for closure at Falk,” she says, and adds that the formality of the event, with the names of all class members being read out, was especially meaningful.

Language Arts teacher Cameron Barnett came out to welcome the graduates back to Falk. He has a special connection to the Class of 2020.

Mr. Barnett started his teaching career at Falk in the fall of 2016, as an artist in residence. He worked closely with many of the students in the Class of 2020, then in Jackie Metcalf’s fifth-grade classroom, teaching poetry lessons and workshops. When longtime World History teacher David Kramer retired at the end of that school year, Mr. Barnett took on the position, teaching sixth-graders.

“I got to move up with that class,” says Mr. Barnett. “That helped them and me. Everything I do now in the classroom, I first did with this class.”

When the class moved up to seventh grade, says Mr. Barnett, “I got something few teachers get, outside of humanities instructors: I got to work with the same group for three years. By seventh grade, we knew each other really well.”

Seeing them again at the reunion brought up a number of specific memories, says Mr. Barnett, from inside jokes he had with certain students to recalling the special projects different students did in his classes.

“They’re my first class of kids I got to teach,” says Mr. Barnett. “The pandemic robbed us of closure. It was special to see so many of them at the reunion, and special for them to have that moment.”

The students were surveyed about the colleges and universities they will attend, along with the majors they plan to pursue. Intended majors range from architecture and botany to data analytics, neuroscience, and electrical engineering. (One graduate who responded to the survey wrote “History (thanks to Mr. Wittig).”)

During the presentation on Sunday, June 2, graduates and their families were treated to a series of videos produced by staff member Tim Doyle and including the class’s original slideshow and selections from the 2020 graduation ceremony.

Here are some of the colleges and universities that members of the Class of 2020 will be attending:

• Amherst College
• Bowdoin College
• Brown University
• Carleton College
• Chatham University
• Colby College
• Cornell University
• Dartmouth College
• Duquesne University
• Pennsylvania State University
• Slippery Rock University
• Stanford University
• Stevens Institute of Technology
• Temple University
• University of Michigan
• University of Pittsburgh
• University of Vermont
• Virginia Tech University
• Yale College

Members of Falk’s class of 2020 won a wide array of awards, including:

• Advanced Placement Scholar
• Bryn Mawr College President’s Book Award
• Carnegie Literary Award
• Elected Youth Governor of Pennsylvania
• Elmira Key Award
• Freddy Fu Sports Medicine Scholarship
• Interlochen Fine Arts Award
• International Ragtime Kid
• Manchester Craftsmen's Invitational Award 2-D Art
• Mimi Burke Merit Scholarship
• National History Bowl Qualifier
• National School Orchestra Award
• National Solidworks Engineering Design Challenge Winner
• Outstanding Service Award
• Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra Conducting Competition Winner
• Ralph Munn Creative Writing Award
• Scholastic Gold Key
• Triblive Total Media Outstanding Young Citizen Award
• TRYPO Concerto Competition Winner
• Tulane University Book Award
• University of Rochester Xerox Award for Innovation and Information Technology
• University of Rochester Frederick Douglas and Susan B. Anthony Award
• University of Vermont Presidential Scholarship
• USA Climbing Boulder regional qualifiers (First place)
• USA Climbing Lead Climbing Divisional Qualifier
• US Junior Volleyball Association Watchlist: Athletes to Watch in 2023
• William and Mary Book Award
• Winchester Thurston Excellence in Spanish Award
• Winchester Thurston Merit Scholarship