They would arrive at Miami University at the height of COVID-19 after a crazy spring their senior year of high school that robbed many of prom, sports seasons, and a traditional graduation.

For the Class of 2024, the lingering pandemic also would impact the start to their Miami experience when wearing protective masks and learning remotely became the norm.

Despite that unprecedented time, graduating seniors Simon DeBruin and Karli Spaid, and master’s student Marina Mendes ’22, still made history in their own way.

DeBruin, a Mechanical Engineering major and secretary of the Men’s Glee Club, became the longest-serving president of the Zeta Delta chapter of Alpha Phi Omega, a service fraternity.

Spaid, a Sport Leadership and Management major and star softball player, tops the NCAA individual standings with 36 home runs this season and ranks No. 2 in NCAA softball history for home runs with 103 for her career. The RedHawks lead the team standings with 159 home runs during a magical season where they have risen to No. 21 in the country. And just this week, Spaid was drafted to play professionally — another first for Miami softball, as well as being named one of 10 finalists for USA Softball’s Collegiate Player of the Year award.

Mendes was a Nursing student at the Regionals doing clinicals when COVID hit. She was not discouraged from entering the health care profession despite seeing firsthand the challenges nurses faced when she returned to the hospital setting her junior year.

“While the pandemic created innumerable hurdles, the resilience and leadership of the nursing professionals around me solidified my decision to persevere in this career,” she said.

At this Saturday’s Commencement in Yager Stadium, Mendes will be among the first seven students to graduate with Miami’s Master of Science in Nursing degree. Next fall, she will become part of the first cohort to pursue Miami’s new Doctor of Nursing degree.

The tenacity shown by all graduating Miami students this year is inspiring, said Steve Large, assistant vice president for health and wellness for Student Life.

“Despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, they showcased remarkable determination and adaptability — qualities that will undoubtedly benefit them as they depart campus for their next adventure,” he said.

“Their resilience speaks volumes about the distinctive qualities of Miami students and the strength of the human spirit when confronted with challenges.”

Simon DeBruin, right, a member of the Men's Glee Club, recalls what it was like to perform during the height of the pandemic. Left photo shows them performing during a concert where parents of graduating seniors sat on stage at Hall Auditorium to watch the singers, separated by six feet and wearing masks. Other audience members watched the streamed show from outside (photo by Scott Kissell).

Simon DeBruin

 DeBruin discovered his high school in Bloomingburg, Ohio, was shutting down in March 2020 during mic checks for the spring musical, “Footloose.” He gave his recorded valedictorian speech to an empty gymnasium. Each graduating senior was given a block of time to walk across the stage with up to four family members and the principal, then the clips were edited into a “walking” video shared on Facebook.

When DeBruin thinks back to starting at Miami in fall 2020, he remembers how his residence hall room became the center of his world.

“My roommate fall semester stayed home because classes were all online, so I had the room to myself,” he said. “I went to class, ate, and slept in that room.”

He joined Alpha Phi Omega during a virtual Mega Fair. The executive board that semester had numerous online events that he attended weekly. “In some ways, I think having a screen between me and everyone else helped me become more confident and step out of my comfort zone more than I would have in-person.”

DeBruin served as president of the fraternity for three semesters.

“Reflecting on the year as a whole, I definitely struggled to find my community on campus,” he said. “I’m glad I stuck it out, though. When we came back, I found myself immersed in many circles.”

That included with Men’s Glee Club, which he auditioned for via Zoom from his couch.

All first-semester rehearsals were conducted virtually, and he sat alone in his residence hall worried his neighbors would hear him singing.

“When we went back to in-person rehearsals (spread out among the seats in Hall Auditorium), I was so excited to hear other people sing, I didn’t even mind the masks,” he said.

DeBruin said he emerged from the pandemic more confident and more willing to live in the moment. “Now I try my best to soak up all of the amazing things that are currently happening,” he said. “We have no idea what comes next, but I know I have a Miami community that loves and supports me today, so I try to make the most of that.”

Upon graduation, DeBruin, who also has a minor in Humanitarian Engineering and Computing, is moving to Madison, Wisconsin, to work for Epic Systems as a technical solutions engineer. "I’m excited to work within a health care application as my favorite part of engineering is engaging with people and helping to better lives," he said.

But first, he is excited to celebrate commencement.

“Luckily, my identical twin graduates the weekend prior to Miami’s ceremonies, so he will be able to visit along with my parents and sister,” DeBruin said. “We didn’t get to celebrate much four years ago, so we are going all out this year!”

And no surprise, he will be up on stage with the Glee Club singing the “Alma Mater.”

“I love to sing with the group and am taking every opportunity I have,” he said.

Marina Mendes, right, is part of the first graduating Master of Science in Nursing cohort this spring (photos courtesy of Mendes and the Miami's Nursing Department.)

Marina Mendes

The pandemic prevented Mendes’s parents from attending Miami’s 2022 commencement when she graduated summa cum laude with her bachelor’s in Nursing.

They are flying from Brazil to attend Saturday’s commencement, where their daughter will be the student speaker for the College of Liberal Arts and Applied Science recognition ceremony. Her speech will focus on her personal journey and transformation from having limited English skills when first arriving in the United States to graduating with multiple nursing degrees from Miami.

Mendes was a sophomore when COVID-19 hit.

“What I remember most vividly about being a nursing student during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic was the immense uncertainty, the constant pivoting required, and the anxiety of keeping myself and loved ones safe,” she recalled. “As a hands-on clinical program, having some of our in-person hospital rotations abruptly canceled was incredibly disruptive to our learning experience. With hospitals overwhelmed and prioritizing safety, it was absolutely the right call but left us struggling to adapt.”

She continued, “Our incredible Nursing faculty had to drastically restructure their entire curricula practically overnight. I remember professors suddenly shifting to new online and virtual learning formats. They worked around the clock to transition lectures to video conferencing and create safe, simulated clinical experiences.”

Mendes said one particularly innovative approach involved using virtual reality simulations to immerse them in scenarios they could no longer practice in actual health care settings.

“While not quite the same as physical patient interactions, these allowed us to progress through diagnosis, care planning, and treatment in an applied manner,” she said. “Our faculty's creativity and commitment to our education was incredible to witness.”

When it was finally safe to return to hospital settings during her junior year, she called it  “a relief but also profoundly difficult. Witnessing firsthand the physical and mental toll COVID-19 took on both patients and health care workers was heartbreaking.”

She still remembers the code blues, ventilated patients struggling to breathe, overworked and traumatized nurses and other health care providers pushed to their limits. “These scenes seared themselves into my memory,” she said.

Dealing with COVID changed her perspective, making her realize “how quickly life can be upended and the importance of resilience and adaptability, especially in health care. It also reinforced why I chose this profession — to help people through the most difficult times in their lives.”

After she graduated in 2022, she began her career in the Intensive Care Unit at Kettering Health Hamilton but pivoted the next year to the inpatient care team at McCullough-Hyde Memorial Hospital in Oxford to dedicate more time toward her online master’s classes and be present for her young daughter and husband.

On Saturday, she graduates with the Master of Science in Nursing with a speciality in Family Nursing Practitioner and then will take the examination to become certified as a family nurse practitioner to begin practicing professionally.

Her ultimate goal is to continue advancing her nursing education to the highest level by pursuing a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree.

“My vision is to take on teaching roles in academic settings, hopefully here at Miami University, which has been so instrumental in my journey,” Mendes said.

Karli Spaid, right, sports her RedHawks uniform. Left photo, Spaid swings the softball ball during her record-breaking home run season (photos courtesy of Spaid).

Karli Spaid

Spaid’s senior year has been one for the record books — literally.

This season, the RedHawks also lead nationally in scoring per game and slugging percentage. In addition to leading in home runs individually, Spaid is first in slugging percentage and total bases.

“In my time in this program, it has been a mainstay point that we want to do things that Miami softball has never done,” said Spaid, who also has a minor in General Business. “Becoming ranked is just one of the many things that we have done this year that we’ve never done before.”

The third baseman from Chicago plans to attend the University of Tennessee this fall to pursue a master’s degree and be a graduate assistant for the softball program there.

Her first year on Miami’s Oxford campus is still fresh in her mind because it was filled with “a lot of ups and downs” that season.

“My first month or so on campus we weren’t even allowed to practice with the team because of all of the testing and protocols that we had to go through,” she said. “So when we were finally able to practice, it was super exciting until about a week or two later most of the freshmen and sophomores in the dorms (including me) had gotten COVID and had to sit out for the quarantine period.”

Still, something positive came from those strange, challenging times.

“I think going through all that adversity just made me realize how strong I was and how strong the team was,” she said. “I mean everyone in the world had to deal with it, so it was important to come out of it strong and be able to thrive afterwards, and we did that.”

Because of COVID, she wasn’t able to have a high school graduation ceremony, “so I’ve never actually gotten to walk across that stage. We did a sort of drive-by ceremony where I hopped out of the car, got my diploma and picture, and then drove off. It was definitely a weird time and unfortunate experience, but I am grateful to have gotten anything at all.”

Now, the team has won its fifth straight Mid-American Conference and is playing in the NCAA tournament this weekend. That means Spaid, the MAC Player of the Year, won’t be able to attend commencement — a feeling she described as bittersweet as her senior year comes to an end.

“Unfortunately, this will be another graduation ceremony I will miss out on. I will be out of town traveling with the softball team for games,” she said.

“While I would absolutely love to be there, I will be getting to continue to play the game I love and be with my teammates who I love.”