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‘The Daily,’ Live: Meet the People Behind the Odessa High School Series

After a year like no other for schools across the country, Michael Barbaro and “The Daily” team celebrated commencement with the students and faculty of “Odessa.”

Join us next time. You can find calendar of all our upcoming Times events here.

Millions of students have logged hours in virtual classrooms, navigated ever-changing work and school schedules, and seen friendships, dances, games and beloved traditions disrupted.

As the school year comes to a close, we honored their perseverance with a special live graduation event, hosted by “The Daily” podcast team.

Deep in the heart of the Permian Basin in West Texas, the town of Odessa sits in one of the most productive oil fields in the world. But bankruptcies in the oil industry and low gasoline prices had left the community, and its students, struggling. And when Covid-19 shuttered school doors, those vulnerabilities were laid bare.

Over six months, “The Daily” documented students’ return to class at Odessa High School. While the country debated how best to keep students on track, Odessa was the story of what happened in a school district that was among those first to reopen.

We followed up with the students and teachers from Odessa High School to discuss their experiences and share what has happened since the series aired. We also heard from Annie Brown, a producer from “The Daily,” about how the story came together, and from the education reporter Kate Taylor about what to expect in schools across the country next year.

We will also celebrated the hard work of students, teachers, administrators and families in navigating this tumultuous year. We had a commencement speech from La’Darius Marshall, star of the Emmy-award-winning Netflix documentary series “Cheer.” And then we hear a performance by the drum line from Odessa’s award-winning marching band.

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