The Coronavirus has taken the world by storm inserting panic, fear, and uncertainty into the lives of billions. This virus has touched the lives of everyone, causing schools, towns and even states to completely shut down. High school seniors have been especially distraught due to the schools closing. For many seniors the last half of the year is the most important, these students look forward to prom, senior skip-day, their last week filled with pranks, and graduation. Senior year has always been considered the pinnacle of their high school career\; students have worked through years of schooling just to make it to this point in their lives.

The class of 2020 seniors will forever remember their senior year, but not in the way they had hoped. Since we are officially not going back to school for the rest of the year what does this mean for the class of 2021? Will there be a fall sports season? Many students in the class of 2020 are worried about what their senior year has in store. No one expected the school year to end so abruptly or for the coronavirus to affect us so drastically. Lucas Colligan, a junior at FHS, says “ The year ended so fast, you know, it was the last day and we were all doing the lip dub and while it was a big kick-off to end the year, none of us knew it. At least I wasn’t prepared to say goodbye to all of my friends who are seniors.”

While it is still uncertain if there will be a 2020-2021 fall sports season teams are still preparing for their season. They are continuing to work hard while also maintaining a healthy social distance by conducting Google hangouts to work out as a team or by submitting videos of their workout repetitions. The upcoming fall sports season, as well as the upcoming 2020-2021 school year, still has much to figure out but there is still hope for the class of 2021. The only way that next year’s seniors will have a semi-normal year if everyone works to help flatten the curve. It is imperative especially now to continue to practice social distance and even continue to quarantine yourself. Quarantine does not mean you have to stop living your life, it just simply means to not go out as much and spend more time with your family.

The class of 2020 only experienced half of their senior year due to the COVID-19 outbreak and because of this, I decided to interview seniors and ask them what they would have done differently had they known their senior year was going to be cut short. Here are just a few of the responses I received.

FHS Senior Braelynn Moore states “ I definitely would not have skipped school as much, I would have made my end of the year video earlier, I would have told my teachers how much hey really meant to me I would have talked to more people and finally I would have not taken being forced to be with people at school for granted.”

FHS Senior Travis (Reilly) Resinger states “ I would have gone to more sporting events, spent more time with friends, paid more attention in class, and I would have taken more risks.”

FHS Senior Rothman Harris states “ I would have taken time to say goodbye to everyone as well as taken time to walk through the halls and reminisce just knowing that I would never be there again.”
SPHS senior Brey Turner states “ I would have spent more time with my friends at school and I would have taken online classes more seriously.”

These seniors didn’t get their full senior year it is imperative that everyone continues to proactively stay safe and healthy during this crisis. Covid-19’s impact on the world is far from over and we must put our health first. Do not make future generations or even future classes be negatively impacted because of your own ignorance.