High School Principal Creates Touching Tribute to Senior Class Amid COVID-19 Pandemic

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Like all educational facilities in the state, Vernon Hills High School is quiet, as students are kept at home by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, but the school’s principal is reminding the class of 2020 that their accomplishments are still worth celebrating even in today’s turbulent times.

Jon Guillaume recently made a YouTube video, reminding the school’s seniors that they have not been forgotten.

“I was still going to school the week after we canceled, and then I thought a bit more about how our seniors are really taking the brunt of this because they don’t get a redo on their senior year,” he said.

In the video, Guillaume took the names of every senior in the 2020 class and posted them on a wall in the school.

“It took probably about three hours to write the names, but it was kind of therapeutic,” he said. “They’re sitting at home wondering if anyone really realizes what they’ve lost. I think the video demonstrated that no we haven’t, that hasn’t passed us by. We get it.”

With Illinois schools closed indefinitely because of the virus, seniors and their parents could end up missing out on important events, including their senior prom and their graduation, and Guillaume sympathizes with those who are being affected by a nearly unprecedented crisis.

“Those things may not happen, and it’s alright to be upset about that,” he said. “We’ll get it past it, and in 10 years you’ll look back and probably think ‘man, that was a crazy time.’”

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