GENERATION LIMBO

A year with the class of 2020,which graduated into Covid-19 and a deep recession — and had to put adult life on hold

- EJ DICKSON

ACCORDING TO MOST standards, Harkirat Anand did everything right. He went to one of the best schools in the country, Washington University in St. Louis. He focused on STEM fields, double- majoring in economics and math. And when he finished his internship with a major telecommunications firm during his junior year, the company offered him a part-time position, all but guaranteeing him a full-time job the summer after he graduated. He worked diligently his senior year, forgoing hallmark experiences — 3 a.m. diner runs, dingy basement parties, regrettable hookups — in pursuit of a brighter future. “I thought it was a worthwhile trade-off, quite honestly,” he says. “I thought, ‘If this amounts to something, I’m OK making that sacrifice.’ ”

Then Covid-19 hit, and he heard nothing from the telecommunications firm for a month. “They totally ghosted me,” he says. When staffers finally got back in touch around April, they informed him that because of the pandemic, they were no longer filling the position. With nothing to do and nowhere to go except back home, with nearly 10 other family members, Anand, 22, fell into a deep depression. He gained weight and would stay in his room for days. “I became very reclusive and fell into despair for a while,” he says. “That all but paralyzed me.”