We are fast approaching the end of our school year. We have exactly seven days of school left and the flight to visit home is becoming more real. (I’ll be back, Lord willing, Malaysian friends, just gotta go home this summer and get some well-needed hugs from the fam!).

I’m equal parts excited and sad, especially for our seniors who won’t get to have the celebrations and parties that they planned over the past year. Many countries are already starting to post and write op-eds about living in a “post-covid” world, but there’s so many parts of the world that are not even close that point yet…and it deeply grieves me to say goodbye to another group of seniors who didn’t get their final banquet, celebrations, and that walk across the stage to receive their diploma.

But the kids keep surprising me and rallying, trying to cheer on their classmates as we push to the end of the year. Our high schoolers have a Student Activities Club that they’ve been running throughout the year, even online, to help students connect with each other in a non-academic way.

One of the events they’ve done a couple times this year is a “watch short, funny youtube videos together” (complete with chat commentary). They decided to run one last event like this before the end of the year and added a Meme Creation Contest into the mix. Since teachers got invited too, I decided to pop into this one.

I knew I would be in for a treat when the senior in charge of the event greeted everyone in Kermit filter shape.

I don’t get to connect with secondary students much since I usually just run study halls, where the students are completely absorbed in their work and don’t talk to me. It was great to see everyone in a more chill environment and get such lines like:

“p e a n u t s a d n e s s….do yall ever just feel like a peanut sadness?”

“Humans will domesticate anything and everything.” “Even themselves.”

“We will train one fly, who will train others, then we will take over the WORLD!”

“doin’ me a heckin’ concern.”

What a group.

I’m so grateful for opportunities to laugh and joke with each other, even if it’s in a different format than we’re used to (or rather, in a format that we’re unfortunately becoming very used to). It’s the small, joy-filled things. The little connections. The laughs.

Memories that I want to tuck away and keep forever.