Opinion | 2
Seniors! | 4-5
Saadi’s take: Backlog of immigration cases feuls border crisis; legal counsel is the answer
Class of 2021 college decisions; take a look to see where our seniors are heading in the fall
Murals, paddles | 6 and giraffes, oh my! Ease into fewer restrictions by staying and playing outdoors
Vanguard College Preparatory School, 2517 Mt. Carmel Dr., Waco, Texas 76710
May 2021, Volume 48, Issue 6
The Vanguard Review A VCPS Publication
On the year that
EVERYTHING CHANGED
COVID-19: Current Stats Active Cases
Recovered
McLennan County
147
26,536
Vanguard
0
25
Source: McLennan County Health District; VCPS
Masks FEAR injustice lockdowns isolation VIRTUAL SCHOOL loneliness STRENGTH 20-21 resilience
Emily Coleman ‘21 business manager
How we persevered during a year of uncertainty and fear
B
eing alone. The loss of special times with friends and family. Violence in city streets. The real presence of racism and inequality. Losing a loved one to the virus. Things never being the same again. High school memories that could’ve been made being taken over by Zoom calls and sleeping in. Fighting and never giving up. Finding out what’s really important. These are just a few of the heavy thoughts that went through students’ minds over the past year — a year that seemed to change everything we knew. “In the beginning of the pandemic in March, I struggled a lot with the thought of the pandemic, and I was very scared about what would happen to my family,” Haydin Davis, junior, said. “As the year passed by and when it was time for us to go back to school, I was less afraid. I knew that I could control who I am around and do what I was supposed to do so that I would reduce the risk my family and I would face.” Between a global pandemic, the death of George Floyd, the protests that followed and a bitter presidential election, the school year 202021 changed how we view life and death, how we socialize, how we care for and respect each others and how we see our place in the world. With those changes, we were faced with fear and loss, wrestled with issues of justice, found a strength we never knew we had and experienced the power of resilience. Nearly 65.6 percent of students said the past year has been a mix of both awesomeness and disappointment, according to an April 2021 VR student poll. Dozens shared their personal thoughts and insights. Flashback to a year ago, April 2020. With hourly news reports about the deadly pandemic spreading across the country, fear and uncertainty was on everyone’s minds. Schools closed their doors and that left us wondering: How contagious is the coronavirus? Could we get it from touching something or just going outside? Was it just a matter of time until we caught the disease ourselves? Would we survive? Katylu Offill, sophomore, felt that firsthand when she and her family were some of the first to test positive for COVID-19 at VCPS. “There was so much fear surrounding the pandemic in March of last year, which did not help my family’s situation when we all tested positive,” Offill said. “My mom and I are very close, and she had the worst symptoms. Seeing her be so sick and not being able to do anything to help her was very hard for me. There was still so much unknown about the virus at that time, so there was a sense of being helpless and not being in control of our situation was also difficult.” A sense of heaviness set in for many of us.
“The thing that scared me the most about this past year is how overwhelming it was,” Rebecca Hobbs, freshman, said. “The mask requirement was like a constant reminder of how many people are dying.” When the stay-at-home order came down, Charlotte Livesay, freshman, said that she was afraid of being alone. “I was scared of being by myself and not getting to see loved ones,” Livesay said. Luke Williams, freshman, said he was not afraid of getting the virus himself. However he did not want to pass it on to his family members. “I was really afraid of getting it and passing it on to my grandparents,” Williams said. Many people isolated themselves from their own family to keep everyone safe. “What scared me the most was not being able to see my family,” Avril Maldonado, sophomore, said. “My mom kept us in the house most of the time because she didn’t know how to handle it. So this was the longest I had ever gone without seeing my grandparents and other extended family.” Parker Howard, sophomore, had his own fears and concerns about his high school experience. He said he was afraid that he would not be able to have a normal experience in school and sports. As the months dragged on, many teens wondered if things had changed forever. “The thing that scared me the most is the uncertainty of if it was ever going to end,” Courtney Wiethorn, junior, said. Facing fears became a way of life for many teens and we seemed to grow from it. “I used to be afraid of the unknown and uncertainty, but I feel like the pandemic has helped me conquer those fears,” Wiethorn said. “The entire year has been completely uncertain, from not knowing just how deadly the virus will be for me or those I love to not knowing if we would go back to school or if life would ever be normal again.” Dory Gonzales, junior, said she turned her thoughts to becoming a better person. “I focused a lot on working out and just bettering myself because it took my mind off of all the negative things happening to the world while improving myself,” Gonzales said. Delaney Trepinski, sophomore, decided to seize the day. “I learned that I have one life,” Trepinski said. “I don’t get to choose if there is a pandemic or not and if I really want to savor my youth, I need to learn to love every aspect of it before it is gone.” Landri Wheeler, freshman, turned to her faith. “I learned in my life I have to turn to God and believe that things are in his hands,” Wheeler said. As hard as we tried to make life seem normal by overcoming our fear, we all experienced loss in one form or another, whether it was loss of time, loss of family income or even loss of life. Many
students expressed missing special events, parties and gatherings and even just being able to hang out. “I lost a lot of time that could have been spent with my friends,” Williams said. Some said they felt like they lost a part of themselves. “I just felt like at times I lost myself,” Wheeler said. “It was hard to be myself when everything
“The thing that scared me about this year is how overwhelming it was.” — Rebecca Hobbs, freshman
was turned upside down.” Trepinski agreed. “I didn’t lose any people, but I lost myself for a while,” she said. “I became unaware of who to be because I had always based my personality around the people I was with, so when I was alone I became confused and unsure of who I was.” By far the greatest loss is that of a loved one, which impacted one of VCPS’s own. “I lost my dad during the pandemic, and it has been really hard coming back to school and just trying to be normal again,” Sage Suchecki, junior, said. “Seeing people is nice, but it’s hard to talk to people I have not seen in a long time, and just making small talk is kind of awkward. It has been really hard, especially at night just crying with my mom and seeing old photos.” On the day Suchecki’s dad passed away, the student body came together at break for a moment of silence for Sage and her family and it hit very close to home for everyone. With the brutal death of George Floyd last May, the issue of racial justice came to the forefront and sparked a wave of protests and counter protests that further divided the country. “I think the protests were painful to see, but in all honesty the more embarrassing part is that it had to get that extreme before the government decided to notice the civil issues,” Trepinski said. “I hate that businesses were lost and lives as well, but the saddest part is that people had to do that in order for equal rights that they should already have had.” While everyone agreed that Floyd’s death was a tragedy, there were mixed reactions to the violence that occurred afterward. “In general everything was and still is hurtful to see,” Maldonado said. “I remember watching the news after Floyd was killed, and I sat there just thinking to myself, ‘What is this world becoming?’ It’s really just sad to see and that’s when you just start feeling bad for the families who have been af-
fected.” Karissa Kuhl, freshman, said she was glad to see people stepping up in protest. “So much has happened with the BLM movement,” Kuhl said. “Their progress has taken such significant steps, but their work will never be over because of all these preconceived notions on race and fears, and belief in supremacy of one race over another.” Some students who answered the survey, but did not give their names, mentioned their concerns about law enforcement not being able to do their jobs and how violence in the streets and burning and looting businesses was the wrong response to ending violence. All this, while in the middle of a pandemic, was a heavy load for teens to carry. But it also gave us an opportunity to find strength in ourselves. “Because of this past year, I was able to learn how strong I am and have become,” Hobbs said. “Even in all the stress and fear, I was able to find happiness in doing things like FaceTiming my friends. Personally, doing homework and studying was something for me to do to keep my mind off of everything happening around me. In this way, my grades improved.” Livesay made an effort to surround herself with people who had uplifting outlooks on the virus. “Being with positive people can really impact your life,” Livesay said. Kuhl found strength in physical activity. “Tennis, I think, really changed my life during the pandemic,” she said. “I hit constantly with my best friend. It was safe and well within the guidelines of COVID-19. It was very much my sanctuary.”
“I used to be afraid of the unknown and uncertainty, but I feel like the pandemic has helped me conquer those fears.” — Courtney Wiethorn, junior
With strength comes resilience, the ability to get back on our feet and recover from difficulty. That’s a quality that surely will serve teens well as they head into the future. Resilience has a different meaning to everyone. For Hobbs, resilience is being able to find strength within yourself and overcome challenges. Wiethorn said resilience is being able to get back up again and keep going after a defeat in anything, from sports to life. For Wheeler, it is adapting to hard times. “[This year] taught me that resilience doesn’t mean you have to be strong,” Trepinski said. “It means you have to persevere. It means you have to keep going. You don’t have to be happy and productive, but you have to keep going.”
STOCK MARKET CHALLENGE: The Myriad Market Masters — Elisabeth Rollins, Faith Regan and Aubrey Roberts — claimed victory with picks of Tapestry, Southwest Airlines and RingCentral. The Real Portfolio earned a total of $1100, $250 of which will be set aside for the Economics Scholarship to be awarded to one senior.