Seniors

From the loss of the start of senior year to not being able to go on college tours, this last year has been the absolute worst for the class of 2021. 

Senior year is the most idolized part of high school and the class of 2021 won’t get to experience it in the same way that every other class has been able to for the past 50 years. For seniors, we will never truly have our first day of senior year. Even when we do go back to school in the hybrid model, it won’t be the same since our friend groups will all be divided up.

Regardless of whether or not we get back sports and dances, they are likely to be completely different from what all the past seniors got to experience. We’ll all have to wear masks, there could be no fans allowed in the stands during sports games, and it could even be possible that if we have a school dance only a limited amount of people will be permitted to attend.

It’s not just about what we can’t do this year, it’s also about what we are going to have to do next year.

Like a lot of other seniors, I’m applying for college next year and I have no idea what I’m supposed to do. 

In past years, seniors would get one-on-one in person meetings with their counselors about college applications, but we can’t do that this year. The only way to communicate with counselors is via email and with counselors swamped with emails it can take days to get a response. This makes an already stressful activity, a thousand times more stressful.

While other classes may have lost out on some memorable high school moments, only the class of 2021 is going to have to face long-term consequences. By not being able to visit college campuses to student athletes losing their seasons causing them to miss out on potential life-changing scholarships, the class of 2021’s future is being seriously hurt by Covid-19.

At the end of the day, only the class of 2021 is having to not only accept the loss of once-in-lifetime experiences during their senior year of high school, but 2021 is also going to have to deal with the long-term consequences of something beyond their control.