ALLENDALE, Mich. — It's not uncommon for people to connect a favorite song with their life's milestone moments. For example, high school seniors vote on a 'senior song' every spring. At most weddings, the bride and groom mark a song they want to always remember as the first song they danced to as husband and wife.
It's not as common for college seniors to select a senior song, but we are navigating through some really uncommon times, so that paradigm may be shifting.
One week before his college career ended, a Grand Valley State University senior decided to compose a song, loaded with sentimentality and sadness about experiencing a lifetime milestone during the pandemic of a lifetime.
"I don't really know what to think about it all," said Joseph VanArendonk, a human resource management major at Grand Valley State University. "My classmate and I feel robbed."
Joseph was supposed to be taking his final exams this week at Grand Valley, then joining his classmates for graduation commencement this weekend at Van Andel Arena in downtown Grand Rapids.
But COVID-19 took that moment from all of them.
"On Thursday, after I log off [after my last online exam], I guess that's it," added Joseph, who is also the president of the campus student A cappella group, Euphoria. "There won't be a whole lot of celebration or closure.
"I'm probably just going to go to sleep."
Joseph isn't the only member of the Class of 2020, college or high school, who is fighting mixed emotions during this time. Students earn the moment to cross the stage, get that diploma and turn that tassel.
It's one of life's right of passages, unless you're a member of the Class of 2020.
"I would say my biggest emotion is anger, but with anger, you want to direct that at something and there's nobody to blame," Joseph said.
Last weekend, as his final week of college lay before him, he decided to put pen to paper.
"I've never written a song before," said Joseph. "But it all came out of me really quickly, and was a pretty cathartic experience."
He wrote a song he'd later title, "COVID Commencement."
"I would best describe it as my internal monologue that happens to rhyme," Joseph added.
He says the song follows the stages of grief he was personally going through, dealing with the abrupt end to his college experience.
"The song starts out really sad, astonished and shocked, then quickly turns to frustration and irritation," said Joseph. "Then the lyrics shift, recognizing the difficulty of being a senior during this time and understanding what's happening is bigger than me.
"The song is scattered, but I think it's representative of what myself, my class and of how a lot of people are feeling."
Joseph finished writing the story Saturday night. On Sunday, he, his roommate and a few other friends gathered to create a music video to go with the song.
"We were planning on having some 'social distancing' time together Sunday anyways, so we stayed six feet apart and made the video."
Since Joseph uploaded the song to YouTube and his personal Facebook page, it has generated a lot of interested, and has been shared a lot, including by his high school choir instructor.
"I was blown away when I saw it," said Shawn Lawton, who has been teaching choir at Mona Shores High School in Muskegon since 1993. "I just knew that [song] was going to be huge.
"Joseph's got an amazing voice. To see him composing this is really rewarding for me, for sure."
For a song that only took one night to write, Joseph hopes it connects with the Class of 2020 forever, while also reminding everybody else that major life milestones aren't guaranteed.
"We're feeling everything at once," said Joseph. "I'm happy that the song is resonating with so many."
Grand Valley has rescheduled spring commencement ceremonies for Saturday, October 10, 2020, but the date will be dependent on the ability to hold large events per state regulations.
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