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Seniors from Martin High School toss caps in the air during their graduation ceremony May 31, 2024, at Globe Life Field in Arlington (Courtesy photo | Arlington ISD)
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As Arlington ISD recognized the top 2% of each high school’s graduating class, a common theme cropped up in this year’s ceremony: COVID-19.

This year’s seniors started their freshman year behind computer screens in August 2020, after the pandemic’s outbreak in March. As the world scrambled to navigate education in the face of COVID-19, the class of 2024 was trying to figure out how to navigate high school.

For some AISD schools, all classes during the 2020-21 academic year were virtual. Others switched to a hybrid system in the spring. Across all campuses, traditional pillars of student engagement, such as clubs and after-school activities, felt nonexistent, said Emiliano Gutierrez Berlanga, this year’s valedictorian at Lamar High School. 

Emiliano Gutierrez Berlanga, Lamar High School’s 2024 valedictorian, said the pandemic prompted him to rethink his career possibilities and pursue government, which he’ll study at Harvard University in the fall. (Drew Shaw | Fort Worth Report)

In the spring before lockdown, then-eighth grader Gutierrez Berlanga, a self-described people person, turned down his admission into the STEM Academy at Martin High School in favor of a “normal high school experience.” When COVID-19 turned things virtual, it stole the social life he was most excited for.   

With his first year lost to the pandemic, Phuc Nguyen, a senior at Bowie High School, said the next three years felt rushed — a constant catch-up to the opportunities missed as a freshman. Once in-person activities returned, Nguyen was inspired to seek out clubs and connections with new people.

“You think it’s four years, but it actually happens extremely quick, in the blink of an eye,” he said. “That year made me realize that anything can happen; anything can shorten your time with your friends.”

Juan Villarreal, principal of Sam Houston High School, saw this change of heart across classes. The shared challenges and isolation of the pandemic drove students closer together, giving them a new appreciation for community and the classroom, he said.

“They respect each other,” Villarreal said. “I think that at one point we took that for granted.”

Gutierrez Berlanga said he felt the pandemic also hurt advanced academic programs like AP and dual credit classes. He saw his peers become less interested in them, and he watched his friends lose motivation and adopt a “What’s the point?” attitude.

Between 2019 and 2022, Lamar student participation in Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate examinations dropped by about 6 percentage points, from 27.7% to 21.8%, according to the most recent data from the Texas Education Agency. In the same period of time, AISD saw a similar decline district-wide, from 28.3% to 25.8%.

Bowie senior Timothy Pham said he felt his classmates weren’t as committed to school after the lockdown. With everything online, it was hard to concentrate, and some students struggled to recover once in-person classes returned. 

“I think COVID wiped out our perception of long-term benefits,” Gutierrez Berlanga said. “We were very much just stuck in the moment.”

While many students struggled to stay motivated through lockdown, some used it to build a new determination toward academic success. Lockdown prompted Gutierrez Berlanga to pause, reevaluate and reinvest in what he found personally mattered to him — one reason why he’s involved in nearly every school club.

Watching the pandemic unfold also led Gutierrez Berlanga to rethink his initial STEM plans and pivot to studying government. 

Sam Houston senior Angelica Garcia said lockdown changed her career goals, too, motivating her to enter the medical field and study to be a pediatrician.   

Gutierrez Berlanga said he decided to pursue the career that would make him happy, rather than what would make the most money.

“COVID was a period of reflection if you took it,” he said. “If you optimized that opportunity to grow and reflect on what you truly want to do with the rest of your life, then as a student, the pieces that still remained from a traditional high school experience could be found and put to good use.”

Drew Shaw is a reporting fellow for the Arlington Report. Contact him at drew.shaw@fortworthreport.org or @shawlings601. At the Arlington Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.