Being a senior during a pandemic was a struggle for most of us. For example, we had waited for this moment since kindergarten. We were finally seniors, and we wanted all the "last" memories. We wanted this year to be perfect. Little did we know what was really in store for us.
School was let out on March 13th which was a Friday.. scary right? This all started happening on Friday the 13th. Prom was this month and knowing the girls at my school, most of us had already picked out our dresses and were so excited to wear them. I remember sitting at work and getting the notification in the senior group chat that prom had been postponed. Everyone was so disappointed at the thought that we might never get our senior prom. Corona cancelled many things for us. We did not get a senior prom however many families like mine felt for their children and decided to throw their own prom! It was such blast to spend this special moment with friends and family. My boyfriend bought us dinner and was even there to take pictures with my family and me. It wasn't much, but it was just what I needed. I know many other friend groups are still doing fake "proms" today and are loving it.
Just when we thought the missed milestones were big... they got bigger. School was announced to be ending early due to the corona virus. We had been doing online school for about 2 months now, and since there was no good chance of us going back they decided to pull the plug on the school year. Not only did we miss out on prom, we missed out on saying goodbye to our teachers and having those last day jitters with our friends. Going on Instagram the day we found out, all you saw were posts by seniors saying "good-bye high school thank you for the memories." It was devastating. All we had left was to pray that we were still able to get a graduation! Everyone around the world started saying things about the Class of 2020 and how they knew that this was a tough time for us but they were so proud of us. Every time you turned on the radio that's all you could hear. It felt good to hear songs that musicians had written just for the seniors of 2020 and all that we were going through.
Senior year showed the Class of 2020 that life was not always going to be so easy. Graduation has now been postponed. We are hopefully going to have it at the end of July. We are supposed to find out July 1st if the spread of Covid-19 has slowed down enough to be able to be in a room with a lot of people. We had a cute drive-by to get our cap & gowns. We also had a drive-by graduation filled with balloons, car decorations, signs, teachers lined up on the side of the road, admin handing out our diplomas, and a cute photo opt with Cady Studios. It was so much fun for each senior to get to ride through and say goodbye to their teachers and feel like they were on top of the world. I thank every teacher who was there that night. You guys have no idea how much that meant to us.
Senior year was one many of us will never forget. It was filled with sadness,happiness, and trials. To the Class of 2021 many things are still up in the air right now for you guys. One is if you will be able to go back to school August or not. Just remember to never let anything special get taken away from you. Be part of the solution and do things for your own happiness!