Graduation Ceremony Postponed, Dream Internship Cut Short: 'I Have No Direction'

By Alina Selyukh

Published May 4, 2020 at 3:57 PM EDT

Allie Clancy, an aspiring TV producer, had to cut short her dream internship at Boston's TD Garden arena. "I'm trying to get used to the idea that I might not get a job in my field for a little while."

Allie Clancy is technically still a college student. She's a senior at Lasell University in Massachusetts. But she doesn't really feel like she goes to school anymore.

She's graduating in May, but the ceremony is postponed. Maybe until the fall. Maybe until next year.

"You kind of just dream of [graduation] since your freshman year because ...[you see] people take their senior pictures around campus and picking out their dresses and getting to celebrate with their family and friends," Clancy says.

"Without that, it just doesn't feel like you get any closure on your college experience."

Clancy is used to being busy, often up at 6:30 a.m. and in bed by midnight. She used to have back-to-back internships, activities, track.

But because of the coronavirus pandemic, the aspiring network TV producer had to cut short her dream internship at Boston's TD Garden arena, where she filmed footage for the Jumbotron and helped out in the control room. She recently applied to a minimum-wage job to do video work for a realty business.

"I've read up on what it was like for the class of 2009 or 2008 to graduate into a recession," Clancy says. "I feel like I was thrown into an intersection with a bunch of ways to go — and then I have no direction.

"I'm extremely passionate about what I do, but ... I'm trying to get used to the idea that I might not get a job in my field for a little while."