Quarantine diaries: A photographic honour guard for Lennoxville high school grads

CBC Montreal wants to know how you are living these days. What are you doing differently? Have you learned, realized or observed anything?

Here is the next instalment in our series, Quarantine diaries: Life in the time of COVID-19. It's the story of Leah Andrews, one of 157 teenagers who is graduating from Alexander Galt Regional High School in Lennoxville, Que.

The school has been closed since late March, and like other high schools in Quebec, it won't reopen this year.

Before students were allowed back for the first time Thursday to pick up their things, staff had photos of the grads blown up and planted along the school driveway.

"I hope it resonates with them that we really do care about them," Kyle Martel, the school's student activities director, told Radio-Canada's Brigitte Marcoux.

Here's what Leah told Radio-Canada about the gesture.

I started crying. I felt very nostalgic. It brings back a lot of memories from my five years here, with all my friends. I know almost everyone.

We see our friends on the screen, but we're not seeing them in real life. We can't hug them anymore.

It was really nice to see [that the school] put that much effort into seeing us graduate.

I'm keeping busy. I'm doing online school. Prom: it definitely sucks that we won't be having it when we were supposed to, but I'm thankful that we'll be having it later on.

It's tough — I've been waiting for this since I was five years old. I bought my dress and everything.

It's hard, but at least we'll have it in October.