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Alyssa Rapole, a class of 2020 graduate from Randolph-Henry High School (R-H), submitted a video of an original speech she would have liked to give at graduation as part of Senator Tim Kaine’s “Everybody’s the Graduation Speaker” contest.

According to a release from Senator Kaine’s office, Rapole’s speech was selected to be featured on his Facebook page and Senate website.

With many in-person graduations postponed or canceled due to the coronavirus, Kaine encouraged Virginia’s graduating high school seniors to submit a video of an original speech they would like to give at graduation.

“One of the many groups of Virginians I’ve been thinking about during this challenging time is the graduates of the Class of 2020, many of whom won’t have the graduation experience they’ve been planning for a long time,” Kaine said. “I feel a sense of loss about that, so I wanted to do something fun for them and give all high school seniors the chance to be a graduation speaker.”

During her speech, Rapole said, “This was supposed to be our year. Unfortunately its all been taken away. We won’t know the feeling of hearing the bell ring on the last day of high school, and sadly we may not even get to hear our names called at graduation.”

Rapole continued, “Our class is strong …. We are the next generation, and we have concurred so much over the last 13 years, and we are not going to stop now.

Rapole’s video speech may be viewed in its entirety at www.facebook. com/SenatorKaine.