Locked down
I
Statesman seniors reflect on missed festivities and memories due
n a time where seniors would usually be cherishing their final moments with their friends and teachers before graduation, the Class of 2020 finds themselves sitting at home behind their laptops in a state of longing for what could have been and uncertainty about what is to come; suffice to say, this is not what any of us expected. Seemingly overnight, the Coronavirus pandemic transformed our society as the world halted on its axis and cancellations abounded. While the news was not delivered until recently, many seniors expected the inevitable blow that was coming: we would never have another day of high school. And, yes, we seniors take no shame in admitting our disappointment about the year’s end. While we recognize that our personal concerns are largely trivial in the grand scheme of public health, there is still a sour and unfulfilling taste left in our mouths as we wish this could have happened ‘any other
18
May 2020- Senior
year’ so we wouldn’t miss some of the defining moments of our high school experience. All of us have lost something in our own ways. Events such as Showcase and St. Baldrick’s were days away from happening prior to cancellation. As for athletes, many winter athletes were mere weeks away from completing the journey they had been striving towards for months, and spring athletes never even had the chance to truly get their feet off the ground. Despite all the big events, perhaps what some of us will miss most are day-to-day interactions like walking between classes with our friends, interacting with security guards or waiting in line at Jazzman’s. While we may have taken these mundane moments for granted, many of us would do anything to once again have trouble finding a parking spot in the harsh weather of February, rushing into first period eager for warmth, friends and hopefully a
clock that doesn’t read 8:31 a.m. Perhaps what stings the most is the lack of finality to our last day of school. No pictures were taken, no goodbyes were said — just “see you tomorrow” to many friends and faculty who we may never see again. Many of us came to school on that late arrival day anxious about the recent coronavirus news, but the majority of us would have been shocked had you told us when we rolled out of the bed that morning that we were about to have our final day of high school. But these are merely complaints about the fashion in which senior year ended. However, we have reason to worry that further disappointment is yet to come in what is supposed to be the start of an exciting new chapter in our lives. Whether it be students planning to attend four-year universities in the fall or
