My son graduated from high school last month, I'm glad to say. The kids who graduated from high school in 2023 are resilient, and their accomplishments mean something totally different than it meant for me! They've been through a pandemic, which turned their school experience into something akin to a zombie apocalypse-meeting their teachers and classmates in a zoom room instead of a classroom...seeing their teacher's kitchen, living room, or wherever their teacher was sitting to hold class. Those students who were new had a completely different (and much harder) "new kid at school" experience. These students had to sit in front of a computer all day for class, something the Academy of Pediatrics Association has been saying for years affects kids in many negative ways. These students didn't have social interactions with their peers, with their cousins or even their grandparents for...how long was it? Almost a year? And when we all finally came out of lockdown, everyone was wearing masks, and these kids never saw their teachers or their classmates smile at something kind or funny that was said. I can't imagine what that was like for all these teenagers whose brains were developing, whose understanding of social cues was developing, and whose hormones were going crazy all while their social environment consisted of Insta, Snap, Discord and Tik-Tok.