{"id":5303,"date":"2020-05-01T18:00:19","date_gmt":"2020-05-01T23:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/?p=5303"},"modified":"2020-05-01T13:49:23","modified_gmt":"2020-05-01T18:49:23","slug":"the-news-worthy-years-of-the-class-of-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/?p=5303","title":{"rendered":"The News-Worthy Years of the Class of 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"

Written by Devon Mitchell<\/em><\/p>\n

When the Class of 2020 began their time at Roanoke College in August of 2016, they never would have guessed their time in college would be filled with so many important national and global events. Starting college, catching Pok\u00e9mon after the summer of Pok\u00e9mon Go, they would soon become a part of history.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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For many in the Class of 2020, fall brought their first opportunity to vote in the 2016 presidential election. In November the race came down between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump; a contentious race that made Thanksgiving that year for most families a little awkward. Donald Trump won, became President-Elect Trump, and politics would never be the same. Global politics was also experiencing a series of tumultuous events. Brazil and South Korea impeached their presidents and the United Kingdom shocked everyone when they voted to leave the European Union. Politics weren\u2019t the only headlining topics for the Class of 2020\u2019s first semester. The Chicago Cubs won the World Series for the first time in 108 years. By the year\u2019s end we also lost many of the most beloved celebrities such as David Bowie, Alan Rickman, Muhammad Ali, and former First Lady Nancy Reagan.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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The news didn\u2019t stop when the then freshmen class left for their first winter break. 2017 brought many newsworthy events beginning with Donald Trump\u2019s inauguration. Soon into 2017, ten years after the beginning of the Great Recession, economic growth globally began to accelerate and the stock market was hitting record highs. During the class\u2019 first summer away from Roanoke, they got to experience a total eclipse in August. The beginning of the Class of 2020\u2019s sophomore year coincided with the beginning of the Me Too Movement. After reports of sexual harassment concerning Harvey Weinstein in October, more women began to come out and share their stories of sexual misconduct. 2017 is also the year NFL players took Colin Kaepernick\u2019s lead in taking a knee during the playing of the national anthem in protest.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Not too long into 2018, the Olympics took place in South Korea and the US placed fourth in the winter Olympic Games. At the end of the senior\u2019s second year of college, the United States left the Iran Nuclear Deal surprising many Americans and other countries. During the midterm elections of 2018, US citizens showed up and voted in the most diverse group into the House of Representatives, which would contribute to the Democrats regaining control of the House. 2018 was also when the infamous hearing of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh took place. Another significant moment for women\u2019s rights took place when Saudi Arabia lifted its ban against women being able to drive.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Coming back from winter break, the US government was experiencing it\u2019s longest shutdown which lasted 35 days. One of the most noteworthy news stories of the year took place in August 2019. The Class of 2020 began their last year at Roanoke College! With the beginning of their senior year, there was widespread coverage of the fires in the Amazon Rainforest. Although the fires decreased in October in the Amazon, they rose in Brazil\u2019s Cerrado region. Mid-November brought formal hearings for the impeachment of President Trump, and in December the house approved two articles of impeachment to be sent to the Senate. 2019 was also the year of protests as protestors took the streets in Hong-Kong, Algeria, Sudan, Iraq, Chile, and India to name a few.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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2020 came and finally the finish line was in sight for the seniors. Also in sight was the Duke and Duchess of Sussex\u2019s announcement that they would be stepping down as \u201csenior royals,\u201d and would become financially independent. At the end of January, the United Kingdom would also dominate the news when they formally withdrew from the EU. Around the beginning of February, the world began dealing with outbreaks of COVID-19. The Democratic race also heated up with more than 25 candidates, which eventually reduced to sole candidate Joe Biden in April. To the delight of many non-New England fans, quarterback Tom Brady decided to leave the New England Patriots after nearly 20 years to take on the sunset years of his career in sunny Tampa Bay.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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During their time at Roanoke, the Class of 2020 has bore witness to four news-filled years. They themselves have been part of history, beginning their journey voting in the 2016 elections and ending their time in unusual times. Despite the peculiar years they have lived through, they will continue to make history and news wherever they go as alumni of Roanoke College. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Written by Devon Mitchell When the Class of 2020 began their time at Roanoke College in August of 2016, they never would have guessed their time in college would be filled with so many important national and global events. Starting college, catching Pok\u00e9mon after the summer of Pok\u00e9mon Go, they would soon become a part […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":5304,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[10],"class_list":["post-5303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-summer2019"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Major-News-Events.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5303\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}