We all in some shape or form have been affected by the Coronavirus pandemic. You may have only been affected a little or like some of us, this pandemic could have hugely impacted your life.
One night while talking to my little brother who is a high school senior, it really hit me that the closures of schools seriously crushed him and his fellow classmates.
I sat down with six seniors (virtually of course) to get their true feelings about losing a major part of their senior year out in the open and this is what they had to say...
William
"Let us see our teachers and mess around in a class with them, we didn't get to say goodbye. We worked so hard to raise money for our senior trip and we were really looking forward to it. This was also going to be my last year to play baseball, my favorite sport, and that was taken from me..."
Caitlin
"I feel like personally I took this year for granted. Thinking that we were just automatically going to have the rest of this year to take in the fact that we are seniors. I'm going to miss seeing my friends and my classmates everyday, seeing as we are going off to college and such. Also the fact that basketball the last part of our basketball season was taken away from us."
Olivia
"Personally I feel like I took this year for granted too... I'm going to miss seeing my friends everyday and not really getting a last day"
Isabelle
"These are people we grew up with, we are a small school so we know everyone in our grade, and everyone in the grade around us, so we're not just missing a group of friends we know or certain teachers that think of us all the same. We're missing everyone, and teachers that know us personally and we have grown up knowing, it sucks that we won't get the experience of having this last year to joke around and test the limits of what seniors can get away with. It was definitely taken for granted and it makes going away to college (something I've been looking forward to for, forever) almost feel sad now, you know?"
Carly
"In my opinion, there's nothing anybody can do to bring any normalcy to my senior year. We're missing out on so many things such as our last St. Patrick's Day, our senior trip, and our senior dinner dance. I'm especially missing out on my internship for BOCES and it sucks not seeing those children's faces who made my week."
Grace
"I miss my friends and teachers, I took advantage of having that in my life. I miss having something to do all day. I was really looking forward to my senior musical and having that time with my friends from my old school. Of course like every senior I was seriously looking forward to graduation. I honestly would've appreciated school much more if I would've known we were going to leave four months early. I really don't know what I would give to be able to walk the halls and remember what I had one more time..."
At the end of our conversation, one of the girls thanked me for asking them about their feeling and that they were glad that they got to get their thoughts out and another told me how talking about it and knowing that someone will listen, and remind them that their feelings are valid made her feel just a little bit better.
These kids are going through a lot right now, their most important year was just taken away from them overnight. Senior year is a year of closure for every student. It symbolizes that they have gained the knowledge, the courage, and the compassion it takes to move out onto the real world.
Please! If you know a senior give them a hug, message them and let them know you are thinking about them.
They will appreciate it more than you will ever know!
As an Amazon Associate, Odyssey may earn a portion of qualifying sales.
