Congratulations, Class of 2021!

The value of hard-fought joy

After more than a year at home, the Class of 2021’s on-campus graduation ceremony had a real ‘pinch-me-am-I-dreaming?’ quality.

It was a sunny Sunday afternoon as graduates sat on the North Lawn with their parents in family “pods.” A gentle breeze was in the air as Senior Class President Jolie Beegle ’21 came to the lectern and began her speech with a bit of time travel. “Two weeks,” she said. “This was the original time frame that we were expecting to spend learning at home in the wake of a global pandemic.” She remembered how everyone in her class was excited by the extended Spring

Break vibe and attending remote classes in their pajamas. A lot changed from those early days in March 2020, and Jolie explored how the triumphs and the challenges along the way have shaped this extraordinary class. “We are stronger and more resilient than we knew,” she said. “We are motivated and determined to achieve our goals, regardless of the circumstances.”

Head of School Kate Morin had a theory about the Class of 2021’s admirable resilience. “How did they keep it together despite all the odds?” she asked. “My answer is simple. Through joy.” And this was not carefree joy, but hard-fought joy, joy in the face of the most inhospitable circumstances. Mrs. Morin drew the comparison to Cornelia Connelly, who made joy a cornerstone of her educational philosophy in spite of the many personal tragedies she suffered. It turns out that her approach, and the mission of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus, were incredibly well-suited to enduring a pandemic—and when it came to applying these lessons in real life, the members of the Class of 2021 were ideal students.

The commencement speaker couldn’t have been more apt for this graduation, at the end of an academic year like no other. Liesl Pike Moldow ’83 is the co-founder of SafeSpace, a youth-led non-profit that has been changing the discussion about teens and mental

health in the Bay Area since 2016. SafeSpace is designed to equip young people with the tools and resources to care for themselves and each other. While encouraging self-advocacy, Ms. Pike Moldow says this organization wants to “give kids a chance to make a difference—to give them the mic.” (Read more about Liesl on page 58.)

In her speech, Ms. Pike Moldow shared a lot of her wisdom with the graduating class, saying: “You discovered an ironic truth, that there is both joy and suffering in our lives, because this beautiful world is a world of duality—a world of opposites” and she reminded the graduates that “to accept duality is to stop fighting life and start living it.”

Student Body President Mariana Trujillo was this year’s winner of Mayfield’s highest honor, the Cornelia Connelly Award.

Commencement speaker Liesl Pike Moldow ’83 is the co-founder of SafeSpace, a youth-led nonprofit that empowers teens to help each other talk openly about mental health issues.

Senior Class President Jolie Beegle said she and her classmates discovered that “we are stronger and more resilient than we knew.”

The perfect parking-lot prom

The event that no one was sure would be able to happen turned into a night that no one in the Class of 2021 will soon forget.

Prom 2021 was like no prom before it—an outdoor, ladies-only celebration of a singular Senior year. They arrived solo (no dates allowed!), they wore face masks, and they danced in a parking lot. Yet the mood could only be described as jubilant. “We’re grateful that it’s happening in the first place,” says Karissa Ho ’21. “I didn’t think it was going to, so everything feels extra special. And I think I appreciate it more.”

Golf carts were on hand to shuttle high-heeled students down the steep incline to the Senior Parking Lot, which was utterly transformed for the night with a temporary dance floor, massive speakers, a big screen, a photo “booth” and a dining area. Everyone seemed to be dancing to the blaring music, and there was a lot of laughter that even a face mask couldn’t muffle. Head of School Kate Morin was overjoyed to see the event play out the way it did. “We are just thrilled the girls get to have so much fun,” she said.

Francesa Puccinelli ’21 captured the general mood of gratitude and relief: “I’m really excited that Mayfield gave us the opportunity to have a senior prom because it’s been a super crazy year, and we’ve lost so much, and it’s just nice to all be able to come together, dress to the nines and look amazing and have fun all together.”

Green screen, college dreams

The zany “gate photo,” where Senior students ham it up for the camera in their college sweatshirts, is a modern Mayfield tradition. In contrast to more formal class photos, this shot lets each student’s personality shine through. With COVID-19 restrictions in mind, the Crossroads yearbook staff and its faculty advisor, Kimberly Gomez, devised an inventive workaround—with the help of Photoshop. So, on a “Wellness Wednesday” in February, 81 members of the Class of 2021 gathered on campus (six feet apart, of course) and struck kooky poses in front of a green screen. These individual portraits were later combined digitally, re-creating the beloved group shot with resourceful flair!